Over the Rainbow » (Book and CD)

Judy Collins has recorded more than forty albums. She received an Academy Award nomination for her film Antonia: A Portrait of a Woman and has her own label, Wildflower Records. The author of Morning, Noon, and Night; Singing Lessons; Trust Your Heart; and the novel Shameless, Collins lives in New York City.

Take a magical journey OVER THE RAINBOW  When all the world is a hopeless jumble and the raindrops tumble all around, Heaven opens a magic lane. When all the clouds darken up the skyway, there's a rainbow highway to be found, Leading from your window pane to a place behind the sun, just a step beyond the rain.

You may not immediately recognize these words...but you definitely know and love the song to which they belong. This is the introductory verse to "Over the Rainbow," sung with such memorable poignancy by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. Although she actually recorded these opening lyrics, they were never used in the film. Now, this classic song has been transformed into a magnificent picture book and CD set. Breathtaking and magical artwork by Eric Puybaret will carry young readers from a little red farmhouse up over the rainbow, into the sky where bluebirds fly and castles rise high in the clouds, and beyond.The extraordinary soundtrack for this book is performed by Judy Collins, who has recorded what might be the very best version of "Over the Rainbow" ever sung. The winner of a Grammy Award, Collins's glorious voice is one of the most admired of the 20th and 21st centuries. Her version of this classic will delight and touch the heart of every parent and child who listens.

 As an added bonus, the enclosed CD also contains two delightful additional songs recorded by Judy Collins: White Choral Bells and I See the Moon.

Publishers Weekly

Puybaret (Puff, the Magic Dragon) offers a beguilingly surreal interpretation of Harburg’s lyrics to the titular song, written for The Wizard of Oz. Leading into the song’s familiar chorus is a lesser-known verse describing the world as a “hopeless jumble,” portrayed in Puybaret’s acrylic paintings as a rain-soaked, windblown cityscape. Giving a nod to the film, the setting shifts to a farm, where a rainbow appears at a girl’s window to lead her to “a place behind the sun, just a step beyond the rain.” There, cloud castles smile and wave, and planets and stars look kindly on the girl, as she gracefully floats alongside exotic, long-necked bluebirds. When she returns to her barnlike home, the creatures and celestial objects from her magical journey remain, turning the wistful tenor of the closing lines (“Why, oh, why can’t I?”) into a statement of defiance that speaks to the power of imagination. Creatively meshing folk-art flourishes with an ethereal sensibility, the illustrations well match the fantasy of the lyrics. Grammy-winner Judy Collins sings the title track and two other songs on an accompanying CD. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)