Close your eyes, listen to the music, and experience the joy of family with this buoyant tale.
Readers are encouraged to find the music in everything in this picture-book adaptation of Marley’s exuberant song.
Before reading this book, take a moment to find a YouTube video of Marley and company singing “Music Is in Everything.” Those who try to force this story into standard meter and rhyme will find that the text falls flat. But if readers can find the groove and hear the music in the words, the text becomes a playful read accompanied by illustrations of a multigenerational, multiethnic extended family gathering one Saturday afternoon to make music. Some bring instruments with them, while others create percussion instruments from pots, pans, jars, and, most importantly, hands. The illustration of the family’s large and small clapping hands in a spectrum of skin tones sends a powerful, uplifting message about the universality of music. The words and engaging illustrations alternately send readers out into nature to find and listen to the music of the ocean, the wind, a river, and a beehive and then pull them back to the house, where the family joyously plays instruments, sings, dances, and laughs. Instructions in the backmatter show readers how to make a shaker and join in the musical fun, though no score to the song is included. Children will enjoy listening to this story and creating their own music, complete with handmade instruments. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Close your eyes, listen to the music, and experience the joy of family with this buoyant tale. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-61775-943-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Akashic
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A comical, fresh look at crayons and color.
Duncan wants to draw, but instead of crayons, he finds a stack of letters listing the crayons’ demands in this humorous tale.
Red is overworked, laboring even on holidays. Gray is exhausted from coloring expansive spaces (elephants, rhinos and whales). Black wants to be considered a color-in color, and Peach? He’s naked without his wrapper! This anthropomorphized lot amicably requests workplace changes in hand-lettered writing, explaining their work stoppage to a surprised Duncan. Some are tired, others underutilized, while a few want official titles. With a little creativity and a lot of color, Duncan saves the day. Jeffers delivers energetic and playful illustrations, done in pencil, paint and crayon. The drawings are loose and lively, and with few lines, he makes his characters effectively emote. Clever spreads, such as Duncan’s “white cat in the snow” perfectly capture the crayons’ conundrum, and photographic representations of both the letters and coloring pages offer another layer of texture, lending to the tale’s overall believability.
A comical, fresh look at crayons and color. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-399-25537-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
