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 bit predictable but pleasantly illustrated.
Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault’s classic alphabet book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989) gets the Halloween treatment.
Chung follows the original formula to the letter. In alphabetical order, each letter climbs to the top of a tree. They are knocked back to the ground in a jumble before climbing up in sequence again. In homage to the spooky holiday theme, they scale a “creaky old tree,” and a ghostly jump scare causes the pileup. The chunky, colorful art is instantly recognizable. The charmingly costumed letters (“H swings a tail. / I wears a patch. J and K don / bows that don’t match”) are set against a dark backdrop, framed by pages with orange or purple borders. The spreads feature spiderwebs and jack-o’-lanterns. The familiar rhyme cadence is marred by the occasional clunky or awkward phrase; in particular, the adapted refrain of “Chicka chicka tricka treat” offers tongue-twisting fun, but it’s repeatedly followed by the disappointing half-rhyme “Everybody sneaka sneak.” Even this odd construction feels shoehorned into place, since “sneaking” makes little sense when every character in the book is climbing together. The final line of the book ends on a more satisfying note, with “Everybody—time to eat!”
A bit predictable but pleasantly illustrated. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781665954785
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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