Work songs, love songs, ballads and blues, lullabyies, spirituals, protest songs, and sheer nonsense make up this entertaining collection of 62 traditional and contemporary favorites. The exuberant illustrations manage to be both familiar and dramatic and range in tone from comic exaggeration to understatement and unashamed sentiment. Informal notes at the head of each song give something about history, origin, performance, and possibilities for variation. The notes also express the sense of connection with ordinary people's lives that is at the heart of this collection."--Booklist (starred)