(2) K-3 Illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh. This fictional account relates the joyful moment when, in 2019, a nonverbal ("which means he usually doesn't speak much" per an appended note) nine-year-old named Ronan Mattin declared "wow!" after hearing a Mozart composition at Boston's Symphony Hall. With economical language, Boss emphasizes Ronan's silence: "'Shall we go to the beach?' Ronan is quiet...'Shall we go to the park?' Ronan is quiet." Suddenly, Grandfather bursts in, wearing classy attire, and invites Ronan to the symphony. Mother and Father seem concerned but agree, and Grandfather, Ronan, and Ronan's little dog drive to the noisy city for the show. Kheiriyeh employs warm colors, with an emphasis on reds, in her inviting mixed-media illustrations. The musicians and audience members are humorously exaggerated, with dramatic hairstyles and old-fashioned clothes. Visually, the book soars when the music (identified in the author's note as Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music) begins. The illustrations show Ronan's inner response; he and his dog appear floating through space, transported by the music's many moods. Ronan's "wow!" causes the audience and musicians to laugh and cheer, and the moment feels earned after these dynamic spreads. Boss's use of sound effects ("Zimmity Zimmity Zum") make this a pleasing read-aloud. The book ends on an emotionally satisfying note, with Ronan dreaming about his cosmic musical experience.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Luisa Uribe. Cateura, Paraguay: a town built on a landfill. Families survive by working as gancheros digging through mountains of trash in hopes of finding recyclable cardboard, plastic, and metal to resell. From this town, with the help in 2006 of Favio Chávez, an environmental engineer who was also a musician, comes a children's orchestra using instruments made from the trash their homes are built upon: "oven trays, old drain pipes, door keys, metal forks and spoons, X-ray films, bottle caps, glue canisters, plastic buttons, paint canns." While Oliver's text centers Chávez (an outsider who is set up as a bit of a savior in the narrative), the artwork effectively positions the children of Cateura as the emotional focus of the story. Uribe's digital art is warm and inviting; ­ever-present sunshine seems to flood the outdoor setting, highlighting the musicians and their remarkable instruments. "'The world sends us garbage,' Favio says. 'We send back music.'" An inspiring picture book that demonstrates how environmentalism and the arts can unite to bring joy to an entire community. Back matter includes further details about Chávez and the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura as well as a bibliography that helpfully includes links to videos where readers can see and hear the orchestra perform.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Elisa Paganelli. With musical support of Rachel Leach. In association with the London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Simon (the LSO's musical director, Sir Simon Rattle, who provides a foreword) needs to assemble an orchestra. As he auditions musicians, readers are introduced to the orchestra's different instrumental sections and the role each plays as part of the whole. An online component provides forty-three musical tracks aligned with the text for a more immersive experience--including the two pieces performed by Simon's orchestra on opening night. The lively illustrations support the upbeat text. Notes about each track, a glossary, and an index are appended.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(4) K-3 Search for traveling musicians with their instruments in eleven busy double-page spreads, each depicting a different country, from Iceland to Egypt to Brazil. A final spread shows the reunited musicians in concert. A small yellow bird in each picture puzzle suggests additional objects to find. A key is appended, but the order of the countries is different than preceding pages, which could cause confusion.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport. Children living in destitution on a landfill in Paraguay are offered music lessons by environmental engineer Señor Chavez. Since "it wasn't safe" to have expensive instruments, Chavez fashions instruments out of trash; the kids' "Recycled Orchestra" goes on to international acclaim. Comport combines many techniques to create gorgeous, layered art that captures this remarkable, inspiring true story's essence. An author's note adds details. Websites.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by April Chu. From the erhu to the suona, this unique, boldly illustrated book introduces Chinese instruments. Children are pictured playing the instruments, while short, lyrical poems of varying styles pair with longer passages describing the instruments' uses, their histories, and other information. The book culminates in a final impressive spread depicting the children's orchestra performing in a grand concert hall.

Reviewer: Sian Gaetano

(4) YA Alternative series. Each installment of this new hi/lo series focuses on the turnaround experienced by one featured teen via his/her experience at an alternative high school. Issues range from gang life to anxiety disorders to crushing family responsibilities and beyond, and protagonists' previous (unfortunate) choices are presented with refreshing candor. The messaging often overtakes character development, privileging adult perspectives and simplifying the teens' struggles. Review covers these Alternative titles: Barrier, Bridge, Controlled, Outburst, and Target.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(2) K-3 Jazz pioneer and free-spirited iconoclast Sun Ra (he believed he came from Saturn) gets a portrait as bemusing as the man himself in this fantastical tribute. Raschka's trademark loose gestural style is effective in reflecting his subject's untethered spirit and impenetrable persona. The images themselves are dense and dynamic, full of brilliant color and heavy black. List of selected recordings appended.

Reviewer: Thom Barthelmess | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2014

(4) K-3 "I have a feeling I'm in the wrong pit." A snake wanders into an orchestra pit and starts exploring, giving readers a front-row introduction to different instruments. This is a slight premise for a story, but Wright's blithe cartoon illustrations provide lighthearted humor, such as when the snake listens, entranced, to the oboe. The snake's dry narration plays it straight.

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(4) 4-6 Forced to live at a symphony hall while her maestro father pours money into keeping the orchestra afloat, Olivia helps ghosts move on to the afterlife while shades threaten to lure the ghosts to Limbo. A plot point involving Olivia's absent mother strains belief, but her growing friendships--human and ghost--plus a few spooky moments will keep readers engaged.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Leeza Hernandez. Rhymes, many with klutzy cadence, relate the tale of a boy's concert attendance at an outdoor venue next to a zoo. The child falls asleep and dreams of the animals--yaks on the sax, a bonobo on oboe, etc.--chaotically taking over. Hernandez's silly, rocking digital illustrations steal the show here. A CD of the song performed by Lithgow is included.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(4) K-3 I Like to Read series. Readers follow a pesky fly as it wreaks havoc through a theater, from an usher's enormous nose, into the audience, and then through the orchestra. Spreads with detailed close-ups of humorously unattractive victims offer much to look at and effectively convey chaos, but the crowding of so much visual action makes the fly hard to follow.

Reviewer: Rebecca Kirshenbaum

(4) K-3 Candida, one of the orphan girls comprising Antonio Vivaldi's "invisible orchestra," drafts the composer's sheet music and is "a bit of a daydreamer." When she accidentally records her imagination on the pages, it earns her attention--and it inspires Vivaldi's next masterpiece. Figures are inconsistently caricaturish, but the rich pastels are nevertheless attractive and a good match for the dreamy text.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(2) K-3 Maestro Petrini, a mouse, is page turner for the Metropolitan Opera's prompter. When cat Mefisto spots the maestro, a chase nearly ends in disaster; the power of music saves the day. Energetic crayon illustrations bring the opera's bustling backstage world to life. This new edition is slightly larger than the original, and the art seems brighter and clearer.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: April, 1953

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Marcin Baranski. Philharmonic stagehand Richie adopts Jake, a dog whose innate love of music allows him to appreciate the orchestra and eventually become its mascot. Instrumental sounds mimic natural ones (percussion, a.k.a. thunder, is the only sound Jake dislikes), and cool-colored acrylic and tempera paintings highlight the lively black-and-white dog. Though somewhat contrived, the story accurately and affectionately depicts major orchestra sections. Glos.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Henry Cole. Tripp's introduction to the orchestra is given new life in this picture book adaptation of the 1940s song. Expressive cartoon instruments act out the slight story of a tuba's desire to play a melody: "people never write melodies for tubas." Nostalgic fans will welcome this book, along with the included CD of Tripp's performance.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth