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Happy Birthday to You!: The Mystery Behind the Most Famous Song in the World
To each of us who has enjoyed a piece of birthday cake, the strains of "Happy Birthday to You" are as familiar to our ears as our own names. Yet how many people know the origin of the tune and its place in American history? In 1889 Patty and Mildred Hill, two Kentucky sisters, wrote the words and composed the melody of "Good Morning to All" for their kindergarten students. Initially written as a simple greeting and welcome, they later changed the words and birthday celebrations were forever altered. But it wasn't until 1935 that the sisters' song was fully copyrighted and their names duly credited. Margot Theis Raven, the author of such inspiring children's books as Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot and Let Them Play, relates the story behind one of the most famous and oft-sung songs in the world.Margot Theis Raven's award-winning books are often set against powerful historical backdrops such as America's civil rights period. Her books for Sleeping Bear Press include America's White Table and Let Them Play, which was named a 2006 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People. Chris Soentpiet's numerous books include My Brother Martin and Peacebound Trains and reflect his interest in people, history, and culture. He has won several prestigious awards such as the International Reading Association Children's Book of the Year. Chris lives in Flushing, New York.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published June 3, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 20, 2018
Interesting story of how a song written to welcome kindergartners to school turned into one of the most recognizable ditties of all time. The illustrations by Chris K. Soentpiet are simply amazing, particularly the facial expressions.
I know much has been made over the fact that this frequently sung song was copyrighted, and cost quite a bit of money to perform in public, but as the author explains in the back of the book - the sisters only attempted to prove ownership of their song after discovering that others, including Irving Berlin, were claiming credit for writing it. The song is now in the public domain, so feel free to sing your little heart out. After all, everyday is someone's birthday!
I know much has been made over the fact that this frequently sung song was copyrighted, and cost quite a bit of money to perform in public, but as the author explains in the back of the book - the sisters only attempted to prove ownership of their song after discovering that others, including Irving Berlin, were claiming credit for writing it. The song is now in the public domain, so feel free to sing your little heart out. After all, everyday is someone's birthday!
October 4, 2021
Happy Birthday to You!: The Mystery Behind the Most Famous Song in the World is a children's picture book written by Margot Theis Raven and illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet. It traces the creation of the famous birthday song to two sister teachers in Kentucky. Since today (3 October) is my birthday – never mind how old I am, I thought it would be apropos to read this today.
Patty Smith Hill was a composer and teacher who is perhaps best known for co-writing the tune which later became popular as "Happy Birthday to You". She was an American nursery school, kindergarten teacher, and key founder of the National Association for Nursery Education, which now exists as the National Association For the Education of Young Children. Mildred Jane Hill was an American songwriter and musicologist, who composed the melody for "Good Morning to All", later used as the melody for "Happy Birthday to You".
Raven's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. Raven wonderfully depicts the upbringing of the Hill sisters and how they came to invent a tune that would one day become Happy Birthday, which is sung everyday around the world. Backmatter includes further notes on the sisters and the song. Soentpiet's realistic illustrations wonderfully depict the narrative.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. Patty and Mildred Hill had a wonderful childhood living with their loving mother and father. Their home was full of laughter and song, and both learn from their mother that little songs helped to keep learning and tasks fun, and she came up with lots of little melodies for her children. When the Hill sisters grew up to become kindergarten teachers, they invented a melody to welcome the children into the classroom, which would eventually morph into the Happy Birthday song that is prevalent throughout the world.
All in all, Happy Birthday to You!: The Mystery Behind the Most Famous Song in the World is an wonderful biography of perhaps the most famous song in the world and the little known creators of it.
Patty Smith Hill was a composer and teacher who is perhaps best known for co-writing the tune which later became popular as "Happy Birthday to You". She was an American nursery school, kindergarten teacher, and key founder of the National Association for Nursery Education, which now exists as the National Association For the Education of Young Children. Mildred Jane Hill was an American songwriter and musicologist, who composed the melody for "Good Morning to All", later used as the melody for "Happy Birthday to You".
Raven's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. Raven wonderfully depicts the upbringing of the Hill sisters and how they came to invent a tune that would one day become Happy Birthday, which is sung everyday around the world. Backmatter includes further notes on the sisters and the song. Soentpiet's realistic illustrations wonderfully depict the narrative.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. Patty and Mildred Hill had a wonderful childhood living with their loving mother and father. Their home was full of laughter and song, and both learn from their mother that little songs helped to keep learning and tasks fun, and she came up with lots of little melodies for her children. When the Hill sisters grew up to become kindergarten teachers, they invented a melody to welcome the children into the classroom, which would eventually morph into the Happy Birthday song that is prevalent throughout the world.
All in all, Happy Birthday to You!: The Mystery Behind the Most Famous Song in the World is an wonderful biography of perhaps the most famous song in the world and the little known creators of it.
October 13, 2018
I enjoyed the book because I learned about who invented the song Happy birthday to you!
February 22, 2015
I really enjoy books that are made for kids but teach them something that many people would enjoy knowing.
That said, it felt..clunky. The illustrations are colorful and beautiful. It sometimes looked as if modern day people dressed in early 1900 clothes to model for the illustrator though. Something just seemed "off" and not with the time period the illustrator was trying to portray. They were VERY realistic and therefore I feel the best part of the book.
The writing, however, was clunky. Was the author an adult writer and just tried her hand at writing for kids? Run on sentences and too many prepositional phrases and similes to describe things. The text just didn't flow the way you want from a picture book. The story also jumped around very quickly, too quickly for little ones. I found myself having to reread certain sentences because I had missed (not that important) details but therefore didn't understand the rest of the paragraph. I did enjoy the mini side lesson about how the word "kindergarten" came about.
Overall, I liked the idea, I was just confused about why (a LOT) of details were included since they didn't really seem to help support the story.
That said, it felt..clunky. The illustrations are colorful and beautiful. It sometimes looked as if modern day people dressed in early 1900 clothes to model for the illustrator though. Something just seemed "off" and not with the time period the illustrator was trying to portray. They were VERY realistic and therefore I feel the best part of the book.
The writing, however, was clunky. Was the author an adult writer and just tried her hand at writing for kids? Run on sentences and too many prepositional phrases and similes to describe things. The text just didn't flow the way you want from a picture book. The story also jumped around very quickly, too quickly for little ones. I found myself having to reread certain sentences because I had missed (not that important) details but therefore didn't understand the rest of the paragraph. I did enjoy the mini side lesson about how the word "kindergarten" came about.
Overall, I liked the idea, I was just confused about why (a LOT) of details were included since they didn't really seem to help support the story.
June 6, 2015
Just how did that song come into being? This is the story! With interesting phrases and enough detail to help the reader understand their lives and the events.
(the tune)..."held happiness" is my favorite line!
I just realized this is the same author who wrote several of my other favorite books, "Rags" and "Mercedes" about WWI and WWII. This is an historical fiction writer I want to follow more closely!
Realistic watercolor pictures done in detail with much light reflection in Soentpiet's expected style.
(the tune)..."held happiness" is my favorite line!
I just realized this is the same author who wrote several of my other favorite books, "Rags" and "Mercedes" about WWI and WWII. This is an historical fiction writer I want to follow more closely!
Realistic watercolor pictures done in detail with much light reflection in Soentpiet's expected style.
September 28, 2009
nominee for 2010
November 20, 2014
the style was a bit too funky for my liking. however, the story is pretty darn interesting and the illustrations are lovely. that's the only reason it got as many stars as it did.
January 9, 2011
For my classroom...
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews