Animal Albums from A to Z

Starred review from January 1, 2024
For record collectors and fans of old-timey music, an alphabetical sampler of rockin' tunes from the likes of Mandy and the Meerkats and the Fabulous Foxes of Folk. Tongue firmly in cheek, Bell explains in her introduction that she's a collector of records by animal musicians, from the 1940s to the '80s. Thanks to a QR code, young audiences can listen to the "original" vinyl tracks and follow along as armadillo accordionist Arnie Dillow regales listeners with "My Aromatic Armpit Is Astonishing to All" and the Barbershop Beagles bark out "Bud Believes in Betty (But Betty Believes in Brad)." Other performers holler out their hits, from Darryl and the Dodo Devilettes to the Hip-Hop Hedgehogs and the Zydeco Zebras. Like the psychedelic "Philip, Phone the Plumber (It's Time To Plumb the Pot)," featuring the lyrics "The faucet oozes out rainbows / And unicorns hot and cold / They sneeze on my towels, I've gotta move my bowels / But the toilet's overflowing with silver and gold," most of these uproariously funny, clever lyrics don't need their musical accompaniment to stand up. Along with an introduction and background notes on the careers of these bands or solo performers, Bell supplies paint- and cut-paper images of album covers expertly evoking eras from big band to disco, with the occasional concert ticket and other memorabilia tucked in. Hilarious, high-stepping tributes to a musical niche that never was. (Picture book/poetry. 6-9)

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February 23, 2024

K-Gr 3-A retro spin on the alphabet in this ode to vinyl music. In her opening note, Bell discusses her love of albums from the 1940s to the 1980s, particularly those by animal musicians! What follows is a series of album covers and song lyrics from 26 fanciful recording artists. Playing with genres and decades, the album covers and liner-note lyrics feature barbershop quartets in striped blazers and mind-bending psychedelic fonts and color. The letter M introduces Mandy and the Meerkats: dressed in matching pink dresses and sporting beehive hairdos, their featured song, "I'm in the Mood for Mustard" has a "doo-wah, doo-wah" chorus call-back to the golden age of Motown. A QR code gives readers the opportunity to listen to these "original" songs. An "About the Artists" section hilariously continues the fun, with tidbits that will have children and their tuned-in adults howling. VERDICT With wondrous handmade art, this abecedary will have readers of all ages shimmying and moonwalking. A recommended purchase.-Rosemary Kiladitis

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Starred review from February 15, 2024
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* Multiple award winner and New York Times best-selling author-illustrator Bell brings the absolute best of her exuberant wit to this inventive, zany, hilarious assemblage of album covers. After a deadpan introduction explains this "authentic" collection of rare vintage LPs, Bell presents a deeply silly, enormously enjoyable A to Z of animals as recording artists. Each letter gets a spread: lyrics of a single song on the left page, faced by full-bleed art of the album cover. Each song is an inspired take on a random, goofy topic ("An Enchanted Elbow," "So Many Ungrateful Ungulates") with deliciously ridiculous wordplay and impeccably deft rhyme. Meticulously crafted collages of hand-painted paper and paint strike every right note in cleverly recalling classic album-cover design of the mid- to late-twentieth century; from evocative choices in typography and color palettes to exuberant callouts and witty recording-label logos, Bell doesn't miss a single beat in crafting these realistic and riotously funny covers. Reveling in everything alliterative, the humor swings from goofy to groanworthy, from silly to sophisticated. Boomer grandparents will dig sharing this wacky callback to the glory days of vinyl, and kids of all ages will set the needle on endless replay to keep the hits coming in this solid-gold release. Rounding out this musical tour de force, Bell offers audio of these super silly songs accessible online via QR code.

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Starred review from December 11, 2023
Newbery Honoree Bell creates an entire high-fidelity world with this clever, irresistibly prodigious abecedarian, which features album cover art and one song’s worth of liner-note lyrics from 26 invented animal recording artists. The creaturely crooners—soloists and groups alike—represent each letter of the alphabet as well as musical genres ranging from classical to hip-hop, and album design aesthetics across the decades. Standing for S, Slow Surfin’ ’67 from the Sensational Sloth Boys sports a Pet Sounds–style cover and the ditty “Sometimes the Soup Is Salty” (“Sometimes the soup is salty/ But I’ll make it sweet for you”). Additionally, for each album, the creator
has produced a song (accessed via a QR code) and provides a brief “About the Artists” note. Of the Sensational Sloth Boys, brothers Sam, Syd, and Slocum Slothum grew up in SoCal writing tunes about “teen crushes and soup” that made their fans snooze (describing a 1969 performance: “I fell asleep. It was the best nap I ever had”). For new listeners and seasoned audiophiles alike, this rigorously imaginative tour de force—conjured up from collaged, hand-painted paper and even a little embroidery—displays Bell’s goofy, deeply affectionate, no-detail-left-behind creativity, which turns each rockin’ concept “up to 11.” Ages 4–8.