Primary/Intermediate: Ask
students to write a “birthday party” story where they sing this
famous song. Remind them to place quotation marks before and after the
name of the “Happy Birthday” song.
Happy Birthday The Story of the World's Most Famous Song
In
the days with candles flickered the night with light, Mildred and Patty Hill
pierced the quiet with music and song. Mildred tickled the ivories as Patty
strung words, one after the other. Together, they wrote the little ditty, Good
Morning to You, for the kindergarten students where Mildred taught and Patty was
the principal in Louisville, Kentucky.
Discover
how these two sisters wrote the world's most famous song, Happy Birthday.
“Nancy Kelly Allen’s buoyant
prose virtually sings throughout this engaging account of the world’s
best-known musical ditty. Informative and fun!” —Paul
Brett Johnson, author and illustrator of The Cow Who Wouldn’t Come Down
“This story, engagingly told, shows children not only where a song they know and love comes from, but that art comes from people, and that they might make some, too.”--Anne Shelby, author of The Man Who Lived in a Hollow Tree.
"Delightful
telling of this happy little tune's origin. Happy Birthday is charming, well
written and superbly illustrated."--The
Mexia News in
Mount Calm, TX.
“This
recently published, beautifully illustrated book relates the history of the song
from its origins in the 1890s.”--
Northshore Parents and Baton Rouge Parents, July/August 2010.
Check out Class activities for fun ways to use this book.