Singing in the Rain is a children's picture book written using Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown's <a href="http://www.supersummary.com/lyric/">lyrics</a> from their song of the same title. Tim Hopgood illustrated the colorful book, and Oxford University Press published it in 2018. The artwork is mixed media, and the book is 32 pages long. As the story begins, a little girl in raingear swings from a light pole like in the iconic Gene Kelly scene from the 1952 film Singin' in the Rain. Rain pours down from the dark sky. The next few scenes find the children splashing in the rain, holding hands and walking in a row. Yellow music notes are scattered on the pages. An image of the New York City skyline with children in primary colors just visible on the Empire State building's viewing deck is followed by a child watching a drop fall on a flower growing from a crack in the sidewalk, and a little girl looking at her reflection in a puddle. The children are beginning to kick off of the light pole from the first scene and magically float away carried seemingly by their umbrellas. The children come upon a rainforest and start to descend into the leaves amongst monkeys, butterflies, and toucans. The children play on the forest canopy. One girl dances on the leaves, another is perched on a branch near a pair of sleeping monkeys and a leopard. The story ends as the children make it to the ground and splash across a river. The book received many favorable reviews. It was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2019, and The Publisher's Association named it the Best New Children's Book of 2018. In addition to Singing in the Rain, Hopgood has illustrated a handful of other books based on classic songs. Moon River finds a bear, a horse and a girl exploring the world on a moonlit river, What a Wonderful World follows children all over the world as they explore the land, sea, and sky, and Walking in a Winter Wonderland shows us a family engrossed in traditional winter activities. Hopgood got his degree in graphics, specializing in illustration, from Kingston Polytechnic. The mixed media format he uses usually consists of pencil, painted ink, chalk, or crayon, which he then combines into a digital collage. The song "Singin' in the Rain" was published in 1929 with some claims that it was written at least two years before. Doris Eaton first performed the song in The Hollywood Music Box Revue, and it was an instant hit. It went on to be performed by musical greats like Cliff Edwards, BA Rolfe and the Lucky Strike Orchestra, Anette Henshaw, Judy Garland, and Jimmy Durante. The song has a verse followed by a 32-bar chorus and then an internal bridge. A 24-bar verse precedes the repetition of the chorus. Many notable remixes of "Singin' in the Rain" have made it to the charts over the years. In 2005, Mint Royale released an Electronica version that was 20th on the UK Singles Chart and later reemerged when dancer George Sampson used the song for his performance on Britain's Got Talent. Sampson's performance boosted the song to number one on iTunes Top 100 in the UK three years after the song's initial release. French pop group Shiela B. Devotion created a disco version of the song in 1978 that was number three on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles and number two on the Swedish Singles Chart. More recently, Dutch singer "Taco" released a pop version that peaked at 29 in German charts and 46 in Canadian charts. The song is best known for its appearance as the centerpiece in the musical film Singin' in the Rain, which was fashioned after the song. It is listed as the third in America Film Institute's list called 100 Years... 100 Songs, just under "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz and "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca. The film was directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen with Gene Kelly playing the leading role alongside Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds. The film takes place during the late 1920s and depicts three actors transitioning out of their silent film roles and into speaking roles with the newly introduced "talkies." O'Connor won a Golden Globe for Best Actor, and Jean Hagen won a nomination for the Academy Award Best Supporting Actress. The plot of the film follows a popular silent film star, Don. Don (Kelly), who is forced into a public relationship with Lina (Hagen), the leading lady in his upcoming film. Don has a chance encounter with chorus girl Kathy (Reynolds). Kathy dubs over Lina's voice when it becomes clear that Lina's thick accent and high voice isn't fit for films with sound. The critical response of the film was positive. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that the "Musical has pace, humor, and good spirits a-plenty, in a breezy, good-natured spoof at the film industry itself..." and Pauline Kael of The New Yorker called it "... just about the best Hollywood musical of all time."

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Tim Hopgood

Early reader / picture book

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