NEW YORK, NY

12-TImes/YEAR38,000

Audio Reviews: March, 2005

We All Laugh in the Same Language.
1 CD. 42:56 min. Plumjuice Records. 2004. S15

Gr1-4– Singer songwriter Marla Lewis celebrates diversity in these 12 upbeat songs. Styles range from the outright Dixieland jazz of "Jackson Avenue" to rap in "Muskrat Rap" to the strains of the islands in "Down in Old Hawaii." Topics too, emphasize diversity, with a celebration of Chinese New Year in "Down Chinatown Way," and the all-inclusive title track, which celebrates similarities and differences. Lewis'svoice is pleasant and fun, and the back-ground chorus of kids encourages lis­teners to sing along. The ... beautiful and touching "Best Friends," ... in­cludes simple, poignant lyrics like, " IfI'm a rainbow, then you're the sun/ shining all my lovely colors o­n every-one. "-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Maryland School for the Deaf, Coumbia