Set for release October 1, 2022, Free to Be Me teaches children how to express their feelings and emotions through 12 original songs. Based in France, the singer-songwriter duo Aaron and Julie Harris (known as the Sunflowers) originally wrote the songbook to help young French speakers learn English. With experience in education systems in France and the United States, they soon realized budding English speakers would enjoy the collection, too. Learn more about what inspired the songs in our interview.
Who are the Sunflowers?
Aaron Harris: I’m Aaron.
Julie Harris: I’m Julie, and together we’re the Sunflowers.
Aaron: We’re a duo in life as well as on stage. We compose music for both adults and children. Not a day goes by without a melody coming to mind. We create music together as a family.
Julie: For us, every day is musical.
What inspired you to write Free to Be Me?
Julie: Free to Be Me started with one song and quickly became an album.
Aaron: We wrote the songs to help language learners become more comfortable speaking English.
Where did you find ideas for the songs?
Julie: We found inspirations for the songs in our everyday life.
Aaron: The songbook features topics about family, feelings, occupations, colours, and other subjects children engage with at an early age.
Why is music a good way to learn a language?
Aaron: Songs offer children more ways to engage and connect. Kids can sing along with the lyrics, act out descriptions, and dance while singing. The rhythms and repetition in songs help us retain words and their meanings. Singing out loud teaches kids to reproduce sounds and make pronunciation a lot easier. Most importantly, music makes learning languages fun!
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay informed about our new releases and events and for a chance to win our subscriber giveaway. To order books for your library or bookstore, please contact Hornblower Books/University of Toronto Press (Canada, United States) and MMS/BookSource (United Kingdom). For additional information, email info@thesecretmountain.com.
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Meet the Sunflowers, the Musical Duo Behind Free to Be Me
Set for release October 1, 2022, Free to Be Me teaches children how to express their feelings and emotions through 12 original songs. Based in France, the singer-songwriter duo Aaron and Julie Harris (known as the Sunflowers) originally wrote the songbook to help young French speakers learn English. With experience in education systems in France and the United States, they soon realized budding English speakers would enjoy the collection, too. Learn more about what inspired the songs in our interview.
Who are the Sunflowers?
Aaron Harris: I’m Aaron.
Julie Harris: I’m Julie, and together we’re the Sunflowers.
Aaron: We’re a duo in life as well as on stage. We compose music for both adults and children. Not a day goes by without a melody coming to mind. We create music together as a family.
Julie: For us, every day is musical.
Julie: Free to Be Me started with one song and quickly became an album.
Aaron: We wrote the songs to help language learners become more comfortable speaking English.
Where did you find ideas for the songs?
Julie: We found inspirations for the songs in our everyday life.
Aaron: The songbook features topics about family, feelings, occupations, colours, and other subjects children engage with at an early age.
Why is music a good way to learn a language?
Aaron: Songs offer children more ways to engage and connect. Kids can sing along with the lyrics, act out descriptions, and dance while singing. The rhythms and repetition in songs help us retain words and their meanings. Singing out loud teaches kids to reproduce sounds and make pronunciation a lot easier. Most importantly, music makes learning languages fun!
Free to Be Me is available now. Order it on Bookshop, Bookmanager, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indigo, or your favourite local bookseller. Don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads shelf. You can also find the title on both Edelweiss and Catalist.
Watch the interview:
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay informed about our new releases and events and for a chance to win our subscriber giveaway. To order books for your library or bookstore, please contact Hornblower Books/University of Toronto Press (Canada, United States) and MMS/BookSource (United Kingdom). For additional information, email info@thesecretmountain.com.