Play this book by Jessica Young and Daniel Wiseman

cover image

Bloomsbury, 2018. ISBN 9781681195063
Seven instruments sit alone on a stage - guitar, keyboard, saxophone, trombone, drum, maracas and cymbals - waiting to be played so there can be a show. But without the reader lending a hand, there can be no band. And so how to play each instrument and the sound it makes becomes the focus of this interactive book featuring lots of different children introducing each instrument. By the end of the story, all the instruments have been tested and are brought together in a grand cacophony of sound appreciated by the audience.
This is a wonderful opportunity to acquaint young readers with some common musical instruments and the invitation for them to "play" them will be irresistible. Interactive in a similar fashion to the Herve Tullet books like Press Here, this one will engage very young readers as they return to it again and again.
The importance of music in a child's life cannot be underestimated and is encapsulated in this research from the University of Canberra so Play this Book would be an important addition to your early music teaching resources. A natural follow-on would be Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf supported by Energy in the Air: Sounds of the Orchestra. To round out the experience, Birdsong by Ellie Sandall gives the children the opportunity to make their own music by using their voices and their bodies!
As is proclaimed in another classic, "Let the wild rumpus start!"
Barbara Braxton

booktopia