A symphony soars in rhyming couplets.
Music lover Greene has created a graceful poem to introduce young readers and listeners to all the sounds and sections of a symphony orchestra. She opens, as a concert would, with the entrance of the musicians, the tuning, and the appearance of the conductor. “Applause! A pause. / Then, instruments as one… // …all SING.” (This page turn is particularly artful.) The instruments are appropriately presented and grouped: first strings, then brass, woodwinds, double-reed instruments, percussion, and piano. Italicized musical terms like crescendo, glissando, allegro, and spiccato are gracefully woven into the verse, then defined in a short closing glossary. The poet’s rhythm and rhyme also sing, her metaphors add richness, and alliteration makes these lines a delight to read aloud. “French horns, trumpets, tubas blow / with lips abuzzzz and great gusto!” One early misstep aside—the oboe’s tuning A is usually much longer than a “chirp”—this is a well-pitched composition. Sanchez’s gently humorous animation-style spreads suggest a 21st-century Fantasia with a chubby, White Toscanini-like conductor and a highly diverse set of instrumentalists whose playing moves the audience out of the concert hall and into a variety of settings. Even the endpapers support the theme with musical symbols and a golden trumpet. There are many other introductions-to-the-orchestra titles out there, but few have such charm.
Pleasing to the eye and ear. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4998-1172-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S POETRY | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dancing is one of the most universal elements of cultures the world over.
In onomatopoeic, rhyming text, Bolling encourages readers to dance in styles including folk dance, classical ballet, breakdancing, and line dancing. Read aloud, the zippy text will engage young children: “Tappity Tap / Fingers Snap,” reads the rhyme on the double-page spread for flamenco; “Jiggity-Jig / Zig-zag-zig” describes Irish step dancing. The ballet pages stereotypically include only children in dresses or tutus, but one of these dancers wears hijab. Overall, children included are racially diverse and vary in gender presentation. Diaz’s illustrations show her background in animated films; her active child dancers generally have the large-eyed sameness of cartoon characters. The endpapers, with shoes and musical instruments, could become a matching game with pages in the book. The dances depicted are described at the end, including kathak from India and kuku from Guinea, West Africa. Unfortunately, these explanations are quite rudimentary. Kathak dancers use their facial expressions extensively in addition to the “movements of their hands and their jingling feet,” as described in the book. Although today kuku is danced at all types of celebrations in several countries, it was once done after fishing, an activity acknowledged in the illustrations but not mentioned in the explanatory text.
The snappy text will get toes tapping, but the information it carries is limited. (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63592-142-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS
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BOOK REVIEW
Bewitched by the rhythms of jazz all around her in Depression-era Kansas City, little Melba Doretta Liston longs to make music in this fictional account of a little-known jazz great.
Picking up the trombone at 7, the little girl teaches herself to play with the support of her Grandpa John and Momma Lucille, performing on the radio at 8 and touring as a pro at just 17. Both text and illustrations make it clear that it’s not all easy for Melba; “The Best Service for WHITES ONLY” reads a sign in a hotel window as the narrative describes a bigotry-plagued tour in the South with Billie Holiday. But joy carries the day, and the story ends on a high note, with Melba “dazzling audiences and making headlines” around the world. Russell-Brown’s debut text has an innate musicality, mixing judicious use of onomatopoeia with often sonorous prose. Morrison’s sinuous, exaggerated lines are the perfect match for Melba’s story; she puts her entire body into her playing, the exaggerated arch of her back and thrust of her shoulders mirroring the curves of her instrument. In one thrilling spread, the evening gown–clad instrumentalist stands over the male musicians, her slide crossing the gutter while the back bow disappears off the page to the left. An impressive discography complements a two-page afterword and a thorough bibliography.
Readers will agree that “Melba Doretta Liston was something special.” (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-60060-898-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
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