Musical ABC - by Natalie Briscoe (Hardcover)

About the Book

"An alligator with an accordion! A bunny with a banjo! Strum, clap, and tap your way through the alphabet of instruments and the animals who play them!"--Back cover.

Book Synopsis

From an alligator with an accordion to a zebra with a zumari, this adorably illustrated picture book gives children a delightful introduction to letters, animal names, and instruments from around the world. Strum, clap, and tap your way through the whimsical, musical animal alphabet to make story time extra special!

Review Quotes

PreS-K-Each page of this cheery concept book presents an animal and a musical instrument in alliterative pairs: "F is for flamingo with a French horn," "M is for mongoose with a mandolin," "T is for turtle with a tambourine." The gently stylized illustrations, rendered in a smooth pastel color palette, depict smiling animal performers sporting an array of garments, from kerchiefs to kimonos, from ponchos to porkpie hats, from tweed jackets to tuxedos. The anthropomorphic musicians stand against solid color backgrounds, surrounded by floating musical notes and treble clefs, visual representations of their merry tunes. Alongside piano, guitar, violin, and other mainstays of the European classical tradition, Briscoe includes non-Western instruments such as ektara, ipu, nai, quena, yueqin, and zumari, many of which may be new to some readers. This approach is hardly novel-for a strikingly similar treatment, see Ailie Busby's work in The ABC of Musical Instruments. However, the execution is pleasant and may well add the names of a few instruments to readers' vocabularies.
VERDICT An appealing if familiar, presentation of an enjoyable topic.

--SLJ - Jonah Dragan "https: //www.slj.com/review/musical-abc" (4/1/2022 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Natalie Briscoe creates joyful art for kids' books, pattern designs, greeting cards, packaging, and magazines. The concept for this book started with a simple sketch of a bunny playing a banjo. With that, a world unfolded that incorporated her fascination with animals and her love of instruments, instilled by living in Music City, a.k.a. Nashville, Tennessee. When she's not drawing, you can find her getting lost in nature, working on her budding ceramics practice, or loving on her sweet cats. the world we live in.