One afternoon last week, this GalleyCat editor found himself in Peter Yarrow’s living room, taking an unexpected sing-along tour through the publishing imprint curated by the co-founding member of Peter, Paul & Mary.
“This will really blow you away. A Peter Yarrow slideshow!” the folk singer exclaimed, fiddling with his battered laptop. He played a folk song on iTunes and scrolled through digital images of his inaugural book–The Marvelous Toy,” a storybook based on a Tom Paxton tune.
A few years ago, Yarrow teamed up with Charles Nurnberg to produce a songbook version of “Puff the Magic Dragon” for Sterling Publishing. “If you sell a million anythings, you’re a rock star. We’ve sold 800,000 of these Puff books. So I am close to being, not a folk singer or an activist, but a rock star,” he laughed.
Then Nurnberg founded his own company, Imagine Publishing, creating a Peter Yarrow Books imprint so the folksinger could curate more children’s books. “My having an imprint with Imagine allows me to have the authority and the platform to bring forth books with music that can inspire, that can move,” Yarrow said. He’s already shared a number of his literary folk songs with music teachers, and plans to offer more free music for educators.
That same afternoon, Yarrow also unveiled a digital copy of “Over the Rainbow,” an illustrated version of the song sung by folk music legend, Judy Collins. Sitting in his living room, Yarrow sang the classic song with his old friend. His warm voice was so infectious that this editor had no choice but sing along.
“Children’s books are great. They are wonderful–it’s just they aren’t combined with music. What I’m bringing back is the music,” Yarrow concluded. “Music is not there in the world the way it was during the era of the Civil Rights movement; not in the lives of people or the schools the way it was. Music allows people to think with their hearts. Essentially it’s fresh, unencumbered thinking.”