Polisar, Barry Louis 1954-

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Polisar, Barry Louis 1954-

PERSONAL:

Born November 18, 1954, in Brooklyn, NY; son of Max (a teacher) and Anita (a homemaker) Polisar; married Roni Lynn Prusky (an art conservator), October 31, 1981; children: Evan Nathan and Sierra Hannah (twins). Ethnicity: "White male." Education: University of Maryland, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1977. Politics: "Yes." Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, film, music.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—Silver Spring, MD. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Rainbow Morning Music, Burtonsville, MD, owner and music publisher. Musician, singer, and recording artist; gives workshops and concerts in schools, libraries, and museums throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Parents' Choice Silver Honors award, Parents' Choice Foundation, 1989, for I'm a Three-Toed, Triple-Eyed, Double-Jointed Dinosaur and Other Songs for Young Children; Parents' Choice Silver Honors award, Parents' Choice Foundation, 1993, and citation among twenty best children's recordings of all time, American Library Association's Children's Jukebox and Award Hall of Fame, for Old Dog, New Tricks; Parents' Choice Silver Honors award, Parents' Choice Foundation, 1993, National Media Gold Award, and an award from the Coalition on Quality Children's Recordings, for Barry's Scrapbook; Parents' Choice Silver Honors award, Parents' Choice Foundation, 1999, and Best Children's Album, Children's Music Web Awards, for A Little Different; Maryland Library Association Award, 1991, in recognition of Polisar's "ability to communicate with children and excite them to read"; Best "Classic" Recording for Children, Children's Music Web Awards, 1993, for Family Trip; Best New Song for Older Children, Children's Music Web Awards, "I'm a Slug;" Best Recording for Toddlers, Children's Music Web Awards, for Juggling Babies; Parents's Guide Award for Outstanding Children's Books, for Insect Soup; two Emmy Awards, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, for the children's television program Field Trip; two Maryland State Artist Awards.

WRITINGS:

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Noises from Under the Rug, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1986.

Dinosaurs I Have Known, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1987.

Don't Do That: A Child's Guide to Bad Manners, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1987.

The Haunted House Party, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1987.

Snakes! and the Boy Who Was Afraid of Them, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1988.

The Snake Who Was Afraid of People, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1988.

The Trouble with Ben, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1992.

Peculiar Zoo, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1993.

Insect Soup, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1999.

A Little Less Noise, illustrated by David Clark, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 2001.

Stolen Man, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 2007.

Telling the Story, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 2007.

RECORDINGS FOR CHILDREN

I Eat Kids and Other Songs, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1975.

My Brother Thinks He's a Banana, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1977.

Naughty Songs for Boys and Girls, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1978.

Captured Live and in the Act, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1979.

Songs for Well-Behaved Children, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1979.

Stanley Stole My Shoelace and Rubbed It in His Armpit, and Other Songs My Parents Won't Let Me Sing, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1980.

Off-Color Songs for Kids, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1981.

Juggling Babies, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1989.

Old Dog, New Tricks, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1993.

Teacher's Favorites, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1993.

Family Trip, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1993.

A Little Different (includes the song "I'm a Slug"), Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1999.

Old Enough to Know Better: The Worst of Barry Louis Polisar, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 2005.

Also recorded Family Concert, for Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD).

VIDEOTAPES FOR CHILDREN

I'm a Three-Toed, Triple-Eyed, Double-Jointed Dinosaur and Other Songs for Young Children, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1988.

My Brother Threw up on My Stuffed Toy Bunny and Other Songs for Older Children, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1988.

Barry's Scrapbook: A Window into Art, Rainbow Morning Music (Burtonsville, MD), 1993.

SIDELIGHTS:

Barry Louis Polisar taps into the humor of children with his songs, poems, and stories. Polisar's "tell-it-like-it-is" style of kids' entertainment is heard in all of his lyrics and stories. His first album, I Eat Kids and Other Songs, contains such songs as "I Don't Brush My Teeth and I Never Comb My Hair" and "He Eats Asparagus, Why Can't You Be That Way?" Polisar's off-the-wall humor has prompted critics to notice his abilities to relate to children.

"Polisar talks to children about things they know in a language they understand," wrote Matt Seiden in a Baltimore Sun article. Responding to Seiden's question of how he learned the language of kids, before he and his wife had any of their own, Polisar talked about growing up in a large family "filled with eccentrics and funny people." Although Polisar planned to be a teacher, majoring in literature and film in college, he began to give concerts of his music in elementary schools, invited by teacher friends who heard him perform. He considered such performances "an anti-profit enterprise" and as he told McKerrow, he recorded his first two albums without any intention of making such activities the focus of his career.

Since those first efforts Polisar has been singing and writing for children and, without much fanfare or publicity, his songs and books have become popular across the country with children and their parents. He has written songs for the television series Sesame Street and performed at the White House, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Polisar's books, written for primary to middle-grade audiences, include works such as The Haunted House Party and The Trouble with Ben. The Haunted House Party, told in verse, tells of a boy who invites friends to his house for an impromptu Halloween party, while his parents are away for the evening. "This book is good Halloween fun," commented Alice Cronin in School Library Journal. In The Trouble with Ben, Polisar looks at the problems associated with being different from one's peers. Ben is a bear attending a human elementary school and is having trouble fitting in. His bear-like behavior is not acceptable to teacher and pupils but try as he might, he cannot imitate the actions of students around him. He eventually learns to be himself and have fun in the process.

Polisar once commented: "In my work—my songwriting, my poems, and my books for children, I always try to use humor as a way of both diffusing an otherwise uncomfortable situation as well as a way of showing how so many of our feelings and experiences are universal." He added, "When I work with children in the schools, I try to present the craft of writing—though hard work—as fun. I think children learn best when they are having fun. And cherish that knowledge—and love of knowledge—forever."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Baltimore Sun, May 25, 1988, interview of the author by Matt Seiden.

Booklist, June 1, 1992, Julie Corsaro, review of The Trouble with Ben, p. 1766.

Publishers Weekly, June 8, 1992, review of The Trouble with Ben, p. 62; August 2, 1993, review of Peculiar Zoo, p. 81.

School Library Journal, March, 1988, Alice Cronin, review of The Haunted House Party, p. 200; July, 1992, Elizabeth Hanson, review of The Trouble with Ben, p. 63.