M Is for Music

What a fun alphabet book featuring so many genres of music. I love that it mentions Elvis, The Beatles, Hildegard von Bingen, Prokofiev, yodeling and Louis Armstrong all in the same book - and it works! This is such a creative overview of music, and I think is actually a wonderful teaching tool. After going through the complete alphabet ("B is for Beatles," "G is for guitar," "P is for piano and practice, practice, practice," etc.), there is a glossary section called "Musical Notes from A to Z" which goes into greater detail on all the instruments, genres and composers listed in the book. I highly recommend this book. I also love Kathleen Krulls' Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (And What the Neighbors Thought).

I really enjoyed this book. It is an alphabet book, but it begins with a few quotes from a few musicians. It set the tone of the for me showing the importance and value of having music in your life. Each page is designated for one letter in the alphabet. A capital letter and lower case letter are shown, as well as a statement relating to music. Adjectives are scattered on the pages describing the instruments, artists or genres discussed. I also love the illustrations. They look like collages printed in bold, rich colors. There are not bright "happy" colors in the book though. There are a lot of blues and purples. Overall, I would recommend this book. It is a quality alphabet that exposes children to the world of music.

Alphabet books. Sweet sweet alphabet books. Sometimes I suspect that alphabet books must be the sustaining backbone of the world's publishing houses. How else to describe the plethora of them that glut the market from year to year? Does the world really need one more dinosaur alphabet book? How about an avante garde one where all the letters are performed by members of Philobolus? Now author Kathleen Krull, known best perhaps for her stunning "Lives of" series, gives us a musically inspired version. She's paired with artisan Stacy Innerst, an accomplished illustrator with relatively few books under her belt to date. Together, they bring us a goofy look at a variety of different styles, tones, and notes. Though a little more diversity would have been a welcome addition, the book is an interesting (if somewhat confused) romp from A to Z. Four quotes to begin. You've got your Nietzsche, your Charlie Parker, your Helen Keller, and your Frank Zappa. Any picture book that finds a logical connecting thread between Nietzsche and Zappa right from the get-go has my attention. Then we're off. To give you a sense of the book, I'll describe the first letter's two-page spread. A man (quite possibly famous in the world of accordionists) stretches his instrument to the words, "Aa is for anthem and accordion". Around him pop up musical terms like "alto", "a cappella" and "aria". A side picture done in grays is shown of Louis Armstrong. From here on in letters are given either one or two pages full of different terms and pictures. From Elvis to Mozart and Hildegard of Bingen to Zydeco. In the end of the book lies a glossary of terms wherein some of the confusing pictures and words are explained (which is why I was able to tell you that Hildegard was of Bingen). The pictures and words are quite nice. Both realistic and delightfully surreal. I was much taken with a bizarre picture of two ukuleles singing in grass skirts on a sandy shore. According to the book, these pictures were done in oils and acrylics on a surface of gessoed board and tin. Tin! Tin is painted on and the word "gessoed" doesn't even appear in my computer's dictionary. I knew neither, prior to reading this. But let's talk diversity. Not just of race (which is a little spotty to begin with) but also of the kinds of music shown here. First of all, Krull's not shy about making it clear which artists she feels worthy of inclusion. Hence, we get a lot of classic rock from people like Zappa, Elvis, and the Beatles. In her bookflap, Krull mentions that her favorite kinds of music are, "classical, sound tracks, rock, and world music (especially Irish, Middle Eastern, and klezmer)". Be that as it may, no Middle Eastern music is portrayed here, let alone Irish. No mention is made of rap (would she not consider it a form of music or is rhythm not musical?) and few mentions of black musicians outside of jazz or spirituals. Tons of classical music nods, however. Just no o