I'm Still Here in the Bathtub: Brand New Silly Dilly Songs
By Alan Katz, Illustrated by David Catrow
I'm Still Here in the Bathtub: Brand New Silly Dilly Songs
Margaret K. McElderry, 2003
Pages: 32
Suggested Ages: 5-9
ISBN-13: 9780689845512

In 2001, Alan Katz started a new trend with I'm Still Here in the Bathtub, a collection of 14 seriously silly song parodies, all set to the tunes of well known songs. I’m partial to the selections in his second volume, though you’ll find gems in all of the books in the ever-expanding series. Let's see if you recognize these ditties. There's:

“My tiny baby brother took our remote control;
When I wasn't looking, he flushed it down the bowl..."

and (to be sung majestically and patriotically):

"My sister fights with me
We always disagree
And it's her fault."

You’re right. Those are all-new words to the songs “The Eensy Weensy Spider” and “My Country, T’is of Thee.” Not earthshaking stuff, but they’ll crack kids up as they warble the words and sing up a storm.

Why should your child waste time singing these snarky little songs? You need an educational reason? No problem. This is true. There's no more effective way for kids to practice reading with comprehension and fluency than to read and sing the words to a song, since we don’t sing a song one word at a time. Our eyes glide across the page when we’re reading and singing. It makes us better readers. And, best reason of all, it’s fun. The more fun it is to read, the more we want to do it. Make a family recording of these songs with your children, and then they can read and sing along in the car. Write a new one together to the tune of a familiar song.

Slapstick, puns, parodies, and wordplay also abound in Katz’s Oops!, his new collection of 100 short, snappy poems, with cartoonist Edward Koren’s scribbly pen and inks skittering across every page.


Themes: HUMOROUS SONGS. PARODIES. SONGS.