Read Aloud Kids Book + Arts & Crafts Activity: Irvin Berlin!

Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the YouTube transcript:

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[Music] Hello campers, and welcome back to week three of Camp Books! I’m Camp Counselor Janae, and I don’t know about you, but I’m having an absolute blast with Camp Books. I hope you are too! I just saw all of those amazing badges and activities from last week; they were so awesome! This week is all about creativity, and after today’s read-aloud and activity, you’ll be able to receive your creativity badge. We’ll also have a new badge to collect each week, so make sure you follow along with Camp Books for the next three weeks.

This week’s books are all about creativity, including “Color Blocked,” “Beautiful Shades of Brown,” “Ruckus on the Ranch,” and “Allegro.” Creativity is shown throughout the books in music, art, and imagination. I would love to know your favorite ways to be creative! Remember to ask your grown-up to help you share your answers with us in the comments.

Today, we’re going to be watching a very special book about a young immigrant boy who left Russia with his family to start a new life in America. Moving to America sparked his imagination to write music. Before we start the book, let’s gather our supplies and talk about the activities we’ll be doing together. Irving Berlin wrote beautiful songs, and people all over the world still listen to his music. Now we are going to create our very own banjo to play along with Irving’s famous music!

Here are the things you’ll need to make your own banjo: two paper plates, glue or tape, coloring utensils, three rubber bands, a paint stick, and three beads. I have some awesome sticker beads that I’m going to use. Okay, let’s watch this book and find out just how it fits with creativity.

[Music] “Irving Berlin: The Immigrant Boy Who Made America Sing” [Music]

Irving stood on tiptoe to see over the rail. Behind him, too far to glimpse, was Russia, where angry Cossacks had burned his family’s home to ashes. Ahead was America. What would they find there? Suddenly, people pointed to a strange green figure in the distance. Was this the famous Statue of Liberty? The passengers whispered, then a melody rose and flew to her like a dove in search of safe land. Irving’s heart lifted and soared; his thin high voice joined in, gathering strength with each note. The statue seemed to welcome them.

“God bless America,” his mother said. “God bless America,” Irving whispered. He could hear the statue singing her own special song, low and warm. One day, Irving promised himself, “I’m going to write a song just for her.”

Life in America was strange. Instead of his small shtetl with dirt roads and wooden houses, Irving wove his way through crowded sidewalks. Big buildings blocked the light, carriages rumbled down streets, and a thrilling metal contraption called an elevated train clanked and whooshed overhead. He still heard Yiddish and Russian, but now it was mixed with English, Italian, and German from all the different people who had come to America.

Music was everywhere. Irving sang in the synagogue with his father, who had been a cantor in Russia, the one whose voice carried people’s prayers to the heavens. Walking home, the melodies in his head mixed with the crack of stickball games, the wail of the ragman, and the creak of cartwheels on the cobblestones. Back in his family’s crowded apartment, there were more sounds: the steady treadle of the sewing machine in the apartment next door, the thump of his mother kneading dough, and soft laughter when his father pressed his cheek against her flowery face. Irving lay awake late at night, trying to fit all the notes and words together.

When Irving was 13, his father died. Still a boy, Irving quit school to sell newspapers, earning pennies to help feed his family. Ashamed of being another mouth to feed, he scrounged scraps and slept in a dirty tenement with hundreds of other ragged homeless kids. Even there, he was always listening: snatches of jazz, bits of lullabies, whispered jokes. One day, while he was selling papers, he couldn’t stop the notes swirling in his head; he burst out singing. People stopped, smiled, and tossed him coins. Irving stared at the bits of copper glinting in the sun. People were paying him for music. Would they do it again? He tried singing popular songs on street corners. Irving didn’t have the strongest voice, but his hummable melodies and catchy rhymes made people smile and stick around for more.

[Music] [Applause] [Music]

People threw enough coins that a passing restaurant owner noticed and offered Irving a job as a singing waiter—a real job making music. Irving wanted to write the melodies he heard in his head and felt in his heart, but he didn’t know how. So every day after the restaurant emptied, he slowly tried to pick out tunes on the old piano. At first, he was terrible, but slowly he got better. People noticed when a singer at another restaurant wrote a hit song. Irving’s boss asked him to do the same thing. Irving still didn’t know how to write down music, but the restaurant’s pianist did. He helped Irving write “Marie from Sunny Italy.” They sold it for 37 cents. At 19, Irving was a paid songwriter.

Word spread about the talented singing waiter. Irving was hired to write words for songs by the Ted Snyder Company, but he wanted to write the melodies too. He sang tunes to a pianist and paid him a few cents to write down the notes. Four years after his first sale, Irving wrote “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” The song was so catchy, so irresistible, it became an international hit. Years later, stars like Al Jolson, Louis Armstrong, and Judy Garland would perform it. People all the way in Irving’s native Russia went wild dancing to it.

Irving wasn’t a waiter anymore; his songs made a lot more than pennies. Now he and his family were never hungry or worried about how to pay rent. But even after he moved to a fancy apartment, Irving would walk a few blocks to his old neighborhood in the Bowery, where he could listen to the rhythms of the street—the sounds that would fill his music.

When the United States entered World War I, the army put Irving to work writing patriotic songs. He wrote an entire Broadway musical for the soldiers called “Yip Yip Yaphank.” His mother watched proudly, wishing his father could hear the applause as Sergeant Berlin sang, “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.” Every night, the audience roared as Irving and the 300-person cast marched down the aisles and out the doors, singing the final song, “We’re on Our Way to France.”

On closing night, the soldiers marched out the door and onto the troop carrier, which took most of them to France for real. Twenty years later, when the United States was getting ready to enter World War II, Irving wanted to help his country again. He picked up a song that he’d originally written for the World War I show finale but never used. It ended with three notes from the Shema, as he remembered hearing them on the boat coming to America long ago when the statue had smiled at his prayer. He blended the melody with his mother’s words, “God Bless America.” At the end of the old melody, he added new words about the land he loved.

Irving showed the song to his friend Kate Smith, the famous singer. Would she understand what he was trying to say? Kate hummed the notes, read the words, and nodded. From the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam, Americans all over the country huddled around their radios, listening to Kate Smith sing “God Bless America” on the eve of the dark days of World War II. The song filled them with hope and courage; it still fills people with hope and courage.

Over the years, Irving earned a lot of money from songs like “Always,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” and “White Christmas.” But he never took a penny for “God Bless America.” Irving gave everything the song earned—millions of dollars—to children in the Girl and Boy Scouts. It was his thank you to the country that opened its arms to countless people from all over the world, including a homeless boy who came to America with nothing but music in his heart.

[Music] [Music]

Irving Berlin really made America sing with the many songs that he created. Did you recognize any of the songs? Many of his songs are still sung today. Now we are going to create our very own banjo to play along with Irving’s famous music. Since we already gathered all the materials before the book, we are ready to get started!

The first thing you’re going to do is stack one plate on top of the other like this. You can either use glue to stick it together or tape. I’m going to use tape and put it all around the rim to fasten it together. I think I’ll just need three pieces for my banjo, so we’ll stick some tape all around it like this. You are doing such a great job!

Okay, now I’ve got my two plates stuck together. Next, we can decorate or color your plate with stickers or your favorite decorations. I have some really fun stickers I’m going to use—who doesn’t love a popsicle, right? And some stars! You can use whatever you like. I’m going to do a few of those. I gotta use a unicorn; I love unicorns! And I think I’m going to go ahead and write my name too. I will put my name right up here. You might need to ask your grown-up for help with this, but that’s okay!

Now I’m going to do a little bit more color with my markers here. Let’s just do some fun swirly lines. I’ll do a couple pink; let’s throw in some blue. Oh, I’m loving it, and I’m sure yours are looking so great too!

Okay, once you’ve got some decorations—and you can do as many or as little as you’d like—next you’re going to take the rubber bands. You need three rubber bands, and you’re going to wrap them around the plate to create the banjo strings. You might need help with this one too, so don’t be afraid to ask your grown-up to help you get those rubber band strings on the plates like this. It takes a little bit of practice too, so one, two, oh, three. Oh, great job, everyone!

Okay, next we’re going to turn our plates over like this, and we’re going to attach our paint stick. You can use glue or tape. For me, I think I’m going to use some tape; I think it’ll work really well. So I’m going to get a piece of tape—a big piece like this—and lay it across the paint stick and attach it to the plate just like that. And again, if you need a grown-up’s help, that’s awesome! They are there and happy to help you.

So now, once you have taped your paint stick to the back of the plates, you can flip it back over like this, and we are going to add three beads on the top of our paint stick. Now, if you don’t have beads, don’t worry! There are no rules in creativity, so if you want to color in your three spots right there, that’s okay too. They’re going to represent our tuning pegs. I have these stickers that I’m going to use, so I’m going to do one, two, three like that. And it doesn’t have to be perfect; we’re just having fun!

Now these are looking so great and sounding so great! Let’s take a listen. How do they sound? I love it! Great job, everyone! These are awesome! Way to go, campers! You finished the last activity for the third week of Camp Books. Now you have earned your creativity badge!

Let’s decorate our creativity badges now. I already did mine, but for yours, you’re going to need your coloring utensils and scissors. Here’s mine; I already colored it and cut it out. You can do yours however you’d like. I can’t wait to start next week and earn my next badge!

Remember, we would love to see your banjo creations from this week and your decorated badges. With approval from your grown-up or your camp counselor, please be sure to share your badge and activities with Books by tagging Camp Books on social media. If you’ve loved these activities, we have so many more at books.com/resources, so check it out!

This has been Camp Counselor Janae, and I want to thank you for joining us. See you next week when we can earn our STEM badge! [Music] Bye!

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