Ella Jenkins

When Hanni and I showed up to do a session at the bring books to life Book Fair last night, we were told that Grammy-award winner Ella Jenkins had confirmed with the Chicago Children’s Museum at the very last minute. “Do you mind sharing your presentation space with her?”

Mind? You gotta be kidding. It was our great privilege! From the Smithsonian Folkways web site:

“Literally thousands of musicians who now perform for children are indebted to Ella Jenkins for laying that groundwork. She has reached even more families through television appearances on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Sesame Street, and Barney.

Ella arrived early and caught me frantically brailling out words on 3 x 5 cards to hand out to the kids. I poked out her name onto one of the cards, handed it over (along with a copy of the Braille alphabet) and told her to get to work decoding. She was tickled, and got to digging in her bag. She asked me to hold out my hand, then pressed a plastic harmonica in my palm. “That’s for you,” she said. “It has my name etched along the top.” A friendship was born. More from the Smithsonian:

Ella’s family relocated frequently, trying to move “uptown” from their {south side Chicago} neighborhood. Rhythms, rhymes, and games were different in each new neighborhood.
Ella shares with children of one culture what she’s learned from children of other cultures. She has gained knowledge and inspiration by performing and working with children on seven continents for four decades.

Winner of a Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award, Ella continues to perform and educate through music. The All Music Guide puts Ella “at the forefront of children’s music, one of the few musicians in the genre whose charms extended beyond her young target audience into the realm of adults and educators.”

I can vouch for that. When it was Ella’s turn to perform, she asked Hanni and me to stay on stage with her. Kids came up to play percussion along with Ella’s harmonica. One girl passed a tambourine my way. She wanted me to play, too. When it came time to coordinate hand gestures with songs, Ella encouraged the kids to come up and put their hands on mine to show me what they were doing. I clapped, palmed, snapped and clucked along with the best of them.

Ella was sly like a fox. She knew exactly what she was doing. Having me up there taking part in the songs and games taught the kids more about disabilities than any book or lecture could. a disability doesn’t have to prevent a person from participating – and having fun — like everybody else.

Ella asked us all to close the session by forming a circle and holding hands. Hanni chose to stay lying on the floor behind me. We sang He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands, and before we knew it, Hanni inched inside the circle and started pawing at me. She wanted to hold hands, too. Ella had even charmed the dang dog.