My three year-old loves music and instruments. When my mom gave him the book, Duck Ellington, he opened it, asked to listen to the CD and sat mesmerized, staring at the stereo for about 20 minutes while we all enjoyed kid-friendly jazz. It was totally awesome, as my Southern California peeps said back in the 80s. Then, my mom went crazy and bought him every book in the series. Don’t tell her, but we gave two away as birthday gifts last month, because we don’t want our kid having so much…. stuff. I’ve heard back from at least one of the gift recipients that they love the CD and are going to buy more from the series.
The characters are animals with familiar sounding names: Miles the Crocodile and Ella Elephant. You get the idea. They each have a specialty, and the board book tells the story that can be read as repeatedly as any toddler favorite. The first track on the accompanying CD allows the lead character to introduce him or herself to the listener and explain a bit about their instrument, giving examples of different tempos and pitches. Then, about seven or eight songs follow, telling us the same story as in the book, but in song form.
I don’t know why I didn’t put this on the Rookie Moms holiday gift guide. I suppose because it’s better for the 2 and over crowd. Add them to your Amazon wish lists, people.
