PPBF – Animal Albums from A to Z

Today’s Perfect Picture Book is another “find” that I gifted in December – this one to my young music-loving grandson and his musician uncle. Enjoy!

Title: Animal Albums from A to Z

Written & Illustrated By: Cece Bell

Publisher/Date: Walker Books US, a division of Candlewick Press/2024

Suitable for Ages: all ages

Themes/Topics: music, record albums, record album jackets, alphabet, concept book, animals, musical instruments, musical genres

Opening: (from the introduction)

I love finding and acquiring old albums, especially those created by animal musicians. The “animal albums” in my treasured collection reflect the visionary work of several small, human-run recording studios whose mission was to elevate and promote musical talents of all kinds. From the 1940s to the 1980s, these albums proved somewhat popular and profitable, with the animal musicians themselves experiencing varying degrees of success.

Brief Synopsis: An A to Z of record albums created by animal musicians

Links to Resources:

·      Check out samples of the featured music at animalalbums.com or use the QR Code provided in the book to listen to the songs;

·      View videos of some of the music at Cece TeeVee, Bell’s Animal Albums YouTube channel;

·      Learn more about the Animal Artists in the back matter;

·      Pick a letter, think of an animal that starts with that letter, give it a name that starts with that letter, and imagine that animal engaging in an activity that starts with that letter (for example, Bob the Baboon bats during a baseball game). You can then write a description of that animal engaged in that activity or draw a picture showing it.

Why I Like this Book:

Animal Albums from A to Z is truly a work of art and a picture book like no other. It is not one that you and your littles most likely will read in one sitting. It’s 64 pages long, including over 4 pages of back matter!

Rather, it’s a book to savor, to pull out, pick a letter or two or three, and read the song lyrics, think about the animal or animals that created them, and peruse the accompanying album art, complete with many, many details that begin with that letter. You can even listen to the music performed, using the links provided in the Activities above.

Rather than trying to describe the depth and breadth of Bell’s creativity, I’ll pick a few examples to whet your appetite:

·      The One and Only Olga, the Ostrich of Opera performs “The Oysters Are a Little Off” accompanied by O. Possom and his Orchestra, from Octoe Records;

·      Butter Brickle Records presents Blame It On the Baloney by The Barbershop Beagles, featuring the single, “Bud Believes in Betty (But Betty Believes in Brad)”; and

·      The Sensational Sloth-Boys’ album, Slow Surfin’ ‘67 on 6th Sausage Studios, features the single, “Sometimes the Soup is Salty”.

Once you’ve read and enjoyed the featured lyrics, perused the awesome album art, and hopefully listened to some of the music, learn more about the Artists in the back matter. Bell not only has created awesome song lyrics to accompany an alphabet full of albums, but she has written the backstory for the musical acts. And in the Introduction, Bell provides the tongue-in-cheek backstory of how she has collected this “cherished collection,” this rich assortment of animal albums, along with “delightful bits of treasured memorabilia”, that she decided to share with readers.

An author-illustrator, Bell created the art by hand. In her words, “It’s a hodgepodge of hand-painted papers and collage, hand-painted lettering and cut-paper lettering…even some embroidery.” The result? A picture book that you, your littles, and every music-lover you know will enjoy reading and rereading again and again.

A Note about Craft:

I can’t begin to fathom the many, many hours Bell devoted to this opus of a picture book: envisioning a musical animal for each letter of the alphabet; matching that with a musical genre that begins with that letter; and writing lyrics for a song that fits the tone of that genre and the title of which begins with that letter. If Bell had stopped after that, she would have created an awesome picture book. BUT, add to that the detailed album art, and we truly have a work of art that can be enjoyed by little ones of all ages and their adults.

This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!