Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Meadow-dwelling animals bring the noise in a raucous alphabet book that pairs them with alliterative musical instruments. For each letter, Saaf introduces multiple words, generating lively, whimsical scenes: "O is for owl playing his oboe. It's also for octopus and organ." On a spread for the letters L and M, a spiky-haired lion and a mouse scream at each other (the mouse has a megaphone), while a mermaid plays a mandolin in a nearby lake. Blending painted and collaged elements, Saaf's images have a welcoming, folk-art vibe. Readers will practically hear the joyful noise as they spot the playful details in each spread, from smiling petunias that rest in a pot atop a piano to a grandmotherly elephant rocking out on her electric guitar. Ages 2-4. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-According to the book's flap copy, its goal is to introduce animal friends playing instruments from around the world. Indeed, readers move through the alphabet in full spreads with an animal represented for each letter. At first each one is paired with an instrument, along with a few alliterative words that are also illustrated, adding a seek-and-find element to the book. The aardvark plays the accordion, and the dog plays the drum. But come to the "H," and things start to fall apart, with the hedgehog "Holding her ears," and "Intermission" and "Ice cream" for the "Iguana and Ibex." If you allow that a yodel and a whistle are instruments, there are still letters with no instrument at all. Clumsy folk art-style pen, pencil, and watercolor illustrations combine with inexpert collage elements for an overall disappointing experience. The alphabet concept book category is a crowded one, and any new entry had better be special. VERDICT Saaf's mixed-media offering doesn't have the necessary narrative hook or the visual appeal to set it apart from its competition.-Lisa Lehmuller, East Providence School District, RI (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
This alphabet book features dressed-up animals playing musical instruments in alliterative sequence: a "frog playing his flute," for example. The instrumental theme falters a little with difficult letters like Q ("quiet") and N ("noise"), and extraneous letter words ("vegetables"; "X-ray") seem forced into the whimsical illustrated scenes. Pages crowded with activity become less about letters and more about a happy menagerie. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The title says it allkind of. Twenty-six different animal characters each play an instrument; they are introduced one by one, with the final double-page spread bringing the whole orchestra together. A banner runs across the bottoms of the pages with three lines that name each creature and cite the action of the scene in both upper and lower cases. "N is for NEWTS making lots of NOISE! It's also for nightingale and nest." In the accompanying illustration, five gaily dressed newts sing, bang pots and blow a horn, while in the background, a top-hatted nightingale sings from its nest. Not all letters are able to achieve such thematic unity. For the tricky letters, Q is for quiet, quail, quilt and queen, and "X is for XANTHUS hummingbird playing the XYLOPHONE. It's also for x-ray." In these and other cases, the additional words often have nothing to do with either animals or music, but they do help with letter-recognition practice. The animals are outfitted in clothing, hats and glasses in a bright and offbeat style that mixes collage and paint. The endpapers, on which the animals form the alphabet letters, are perhaps the cleverest part of the book. Preschoolers may not know all of the creatures (aardvark, kiwi, ibex), but they will have fun pointing out what's happening and connecting letters with them. Isn't that what alphabet books are supposed to do? (Picture book. 2-4) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
