ROAR-chestra!: A Wild Story of Musical Words

by Robert Heidbreder, Dusan Petricic

Overview

Musical terms come to life, and kids get to join in! A rhythmic poem is paired with exuberant illustrations of a conductor and his animal orchestra to convey the meanings of seven musical terms. The text contains a succinct physical definition for each term. For example, to define glissando the text reads, “Gently gliding, slipping, sliding.” And in the illustrations, the animals use movement to interpret this description, flowing across the spread as if rolling on a wave. Readers will find it easy to learn the terms — and will have great fun playing along! Staccato. Adagio. Allegro. Fortissimo. What child can resist pronouncing these words — or performing them!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525304217
Publisher:	Kids Can Press, Limited
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Robert Heidbreder was born in Illinois but now lives in British Columbia. He has enchanted children with his joyful poems and rhymes for more than two decades. A former elementary school teacher (and winner of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence), he believes that children’s love of silly and absurd combinations of words makes them natural poets. His books include Eenie Meenie Manitoba, Don’t Eat Spiders, I Wished for a Unicorn, Drumheller Dinosaur Dance, Python Play, See Saw Saskatchewan, Crocodiles Say, A Sea-Wishing Day, Lickety-Split, Crocodiles Play, Shake-Awakes, Noisy Poems for a Busy Day, Black and Bittern Was Night and Song for a Summer Night.;Dušan Petričić is the award-winning illustrator of more than twenty books for children. His books include In the Tree House, The Enormous Potato, Bagels from Benny and Lickety-Split. He currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

Musical mayhem to entertain and engage.—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Together, Heidbreder's euphonious text and Petričić's dynamic illustrations offer bravura performances on every page.—Horn Book

... an enticing, informative, and understandable introduction to music for young readers.—CM Magazine

An accessible and inviting look at aspects of classical music that will have children dancing.—School Library Journal

Together, Heidbreder's euphonious text and Petričić's dynamic illustrations offer bravura performances on every page.—Horn Book

From the Publisher

07/01/2021

PreS-Gr 2—An introduction to classical music terms for young children, for preschool story hours or to help them shake their sillies out. A conductor guides an animal orchestra through seven musical terms, showing how the conductor communicates each word on one page and depicting the group of animals acting out the word on the following scene. An array of animals hop, glide, and crash in symphony with the maestro's technique. Petri i illustrations demonstrate the musical terms they accompany. The illustrations of the conductor's arm motions are basic enough for children to imitate, while the animals' bursts of action will have children moving, too. It's quite an animal kingdom depicted here, from slow and steady seahorses to dancing dolphins and loud lions—there is something for everyone in this book. Back matter includes a pronunciation guide for the musical terms and their definitions. VERDICT An accessible and inviting look at aspects of classical music that will have children dancing.—Sara Thomas, New Castle P.L., DE

School Library Journal

★ 2021-04-14
Animal patterns fill a musical staff, and both conductor and baton are warmed up!

A wild array of bow-tied animals awaits their human conductor, who opens the performance with a spirited allegro beat. The fish, insects, and mammals leap and pounce. Now the beat slows down to an adagio tempo that puts the fauna to sleep. A gracefully swift upbeat by the conductor sends the critters, tummy side down, “gliding, slipping, sliding” in a glissando. But then quickly executed arcs through the air herald a staccato beat that brings back leaping kangaroos and arcing dolphins along with jumping frogs and rabbits. Calm returns in dolce, as birds and koalas find love and pandas eat bamboo. But wait, this is not the end, as with the intensity of fortissimo, the baton flies out of the conductor’s outstretched fingers, and noisy gorillas, lions, and hyenas bellow and roar. Sigh. Peace returns in pianissimo as eyes close and animals snuggle down. A pronunciation guide complete with succinct definitions concludes this orchestral workout. Scratchy cartoon illustrations cleverly and colorfully depict the many musical moods with humor. Fingers will tap, hands will clap, and feet will stomp along with a reading that should have musical accompaniment. Perhaps The Nutcracker? And guessing which animal fits into which instrument case on the cover is an added element of fun. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Musical mayhem to entertain and engage. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews