MARY HAD A LITTLE JAM
From the Mary Had a Little Glam series
by Tammi Sauer ; illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
The protagonist of Mary Had a Little Glam (2016) and Mary Had a Little Plan (2022) gathers her pals for a jam session.
Mary, a Black girl who wears a nest housing a bird family atop her head, sits on the front stoop strumming her pink ukulele. “I think I need a group,” she announces before recruiting a diverse cadre of friends, among them Jack and Jill, Bo Peep, and Boy Blue. They gather in her living room and start playing different tunes simultaneously, producing a cacophony. This isn’t what Mary had in mind. She gets their attention and tells them they need some harmony. As her band, dubbed the Nurs’ry Rhymers, practices and improves, joy abounds. And while Mary still occasionally plays on her own, she loves being part of a band. Bursting with color and motion, this lively story will keep readers as busy as the artwork; little ones will enjoy pointing out what the bird family is doing, tracking the trouble that Bo Peep’s sheep get into, and identifying other animals (such as a goose and a spider) also found in nursery rhymes. Mary’s trusty companion, a small white dog, adds to the fun, howling in the midst of the musical mayhem.
A toe-tappingly fun tale about what it takes to bring auditory beauty to life.
(Picture book. 4-7)