Availability:
Library | Call Number | Format | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Braintree Thayer Public Library | BEL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Cohasset Paul Pratt Memorial Library | BELL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Hanover John Curtis Free Library | JE BELL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Hingham Public Library | 421.1 BEL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Holbrook Public Library | ON ORDER | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Kingston Public Library | BEL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Milton Public Library | PIC BELL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Norwell Public Library | BEL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Plymouth Public Library | 811.54 BEL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Rockland Memorial Library | BEL | J NEW BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Sharon Public Library | PIC BEL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Stoughton Public Library | PIC BEL | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Weymouth Tufts Library | ON ORDER | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
From the inimitable creator of El Deafo , this all-ages alphabet book is also a hand-wrought, high-fidelity, hilariously tongue-in-cheek homage to the golden days of album cover art.
Cece Bell loves music and collecting old record albums, her introduction explains, especially albums featuring animal artists. The bouncing harmonies of the Barbershop Beagles, the elegant crooning of the elephant Ella Fontaine, the hilarious rhymes of the Hip-Hop Hedgehogs--all are represented in this quirky ABC book that draws on the creator's personal collection of albums, memorabilia, and lyrics dating between 1944 and 1984, the heyday of album design. With wry, witty text, silly and sumptuous sound play, and biographical end matter on all twenty-six musical acts, the book commands and stands up to repeated readings. Bright, zany art--all painted and lettered by hand--a stellar design, and an album-size trim make it a collector's item in its own right, sure to grace the coffee tables of vinyl- and design-loving adults even as it tickles young funny bones. A hootenanny hosted by the creator of the Newbery Honor Book and Eisner Award winner El Deafo , Animal Albums from A to Z also quietly reminds us just how much music can mean to everyone.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
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. (Mar.)
Booklist 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.