Sharon, Lois & Bram’s Peanut Butter and Jelly

Singing bouncy, happy songs about friendship and love, Sharon, Lois & Bram were the royalty of children’s performers from the 1970s-2000s. The threesome from Toronto had two television shows, The Elephant Show and SkinnamarinkTV, and recorded 21 full-length albums that kept several generations of little children bouncing and smiling to their rhymes and rhythms.

Randi Hampson, Sharon’s daughter, has taken one of those exuberant songs about an ordinary moment in a child’s life - eating a peanut butter sandwich - and turned it into an equally-joyful book, allergy-free for those who can’t eat peanut butter.

The words dance across the pages, with the verses in black and white type and the lines of the chorus in different colours. Illustrator Qin Leng has created energetic drawings. Children and adults troop into a kitchen and engage in all the steps needed to make the simple sandwiches, digging the peanuts, crushing them, making jelly, etc., until the delicious sandwiches are eaten. Good kitchen etiquette and cleanliness are maintained at all times.

Leng’s characters represent every community that makes up Canada, from different races and abilities, from old to young. She includes animals, notably the elephant made famous by Sharon, Lois & Bram, as well as mice, rabbits, snails, kangaroos, and more. The excitement over the sandwiches is palpable as the characters literally and cheerfully tumble into the adventure of making a sandwich.

We all are getting hungry and
don’t want a tummy ache,

So come on an adventure
because it’s time to make …

Leng’s choice of bright colours on shiny white paper is appealing. Splashes of red representing crushed raspberries squirting from the bowl evoke the fun of making food from fresh ingredients.

Sharon, Lois & Bram’s Peanut Butter and Jelly can be used in a daycare or family situation to learn and practice rhythm as well as to learn how to rhyme. The high-spirited song can add to a child’s enjoyment of life as they grow (and perhaps get them to eat the food in front of them ….) The book can also serve as an early reader for young children, and it would be an especially-pleasing experience if Sharon, Lois & Bram’s song were played as the child reads.