"Bill Harley has the uncanny ability to reaffirm life for listeners, be they five or fifty. Humor, empathy, intelligence and reality all radiate from his work and from him." - Penguin Books A Grammy award winning artist, Bill uses song and story paint a vibrant and hilarious picture of growing up, schooling and family life. His work spans the generation gap, reminds us of our common humanity and challenges us to be our very best selves. A prolific author and recording artist, Bill is also a regular commentator for NPR's All Things Considered and featured on PBS. Harley joined the National Storytelling Network's Circle of Excellence in 2001 and tours nationwide as an author and performing artist. With these considerable talents, Bill considers his real work to be using these skills to encourage his audience to see the world anew and to experience "live art", to honor the emotional lives of children and adults and finally, to pass along a love of language and music. "Everybody worries about things being educational' with kids. I believe everything is educational, in that it says something about how one looks at the world - it imparts a knowledge, or world-view. Children learn more from context than they do from explicit lessons. They learn vocabulary and language not from a dictionary or worksheet, but from conversation, they learn songs not from reading music, but from singing with someone who loves to sing, and they learn hope and kindness and cooperation not from being told to have them, but by experiencing them." Bill Harley "Bill Harley takes his life and turns it into art. Sounds simple until you actually try to do it. That Harley's art seems so effortless only underscore his mastery." -Nuvo Newsweekly Praise for Monsters in the Bathroom: 'Many of the selections leave the listeners with the feeling of having learned or relearned a profitable lesson---without having endured a lecture on values or ethics.' The National Storytelling Journal 'The other day a friend of mine mentioned dirty socks and I immediately sang the entire verse to 'Black Socks Never Get Dirty.' I hadn't thought about the song in years but suddenly it sprang to my head! I am 22 now and the music clips on your website are bringing the whole songs back to me. Thanks for writing such great music that stuck with me all this time.' 'I absolutely love all of your songs, but there is only one that I like the most and that is 'Freedom Bird'. Your friend,' Alysha 'I ordered 'Monsters in the Bathroom' and received it yesterday. I was one of the kids who was in the class Bill played for at Hoxsie School when some of the songs were recorded in 1984 (wow, 20 years!). I never forgot when he was there, or how he made us laugh and laugh when he sang his songs. It was a great experience. I am so glad I found the website, bought the CD, and brought back such good memories. It is something I can't wait to share with my kids someday! Thanks again!' Christine '...full of stories and things the wee people are sure to love.'