2. There are interesting variations between the original recording and the follow-up projects in terms of material that is excluded from or added to the book and television special. In addition to the song "Girl Land," the stories "Grandma" and "Dudley Pippin and His No-Friend" appear only on the LP. The book and television special include the friendship story "Three Wishes," and the book includes several other stories that respond to the day-to-day doubts and worries of small children (such as sibling rivalry, divorce and the tensions of becoming more self-sufficient), including Judy Blume's "The Pain and The Great One" and Herb Gardner's short play "How I Crossed the Street for the First Time All By Myself." The book, which is by far the richest iteration of Free To Be…You and Me, also contains an anti-war fable by Ann Riophe ("The Field"), and several original poems, including Elaine Laron's "The Sun and the Moon." The TV special includes the poem "The Sun and the Moon" set to music, plus an all-new production number, "You Were Once a Baby." Regarding heavy-handed attempts to discourage the development of false, romantic consciousness in little girls, the LP is by far the strongest, and least balanced, version of the text. |