Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-This story by Thatcher Hurd (HarperCollins, 1984) about a swamp band playing music for the alligator ball is particularly well suited to the audio format. The musical score enhances the story and invites singing along. The cassette/book works on two levels. The production quality of the tape allows it to stand alone as a good story for non-readers. Tom Chapin narrates the story at just the right tempo to allow beginning readers to follow the text. His voice changes subtly, but noticeably as the characters change. The music reinforces the story. For example, when the lead character meets the trumpet player, we hear the sound of a trumpet. When the alligators are finished dancing and are ready to eat the swamp band for dinner, the band plays a lullaby to put the hungry alligators to sleep. At the end of the story, youngsters will want to sing along and make up their own verses. It can be used with small groups in language arts or music classes.-Ann Taylor, Lame Deer School District, MT(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A brash, wicked take-off on the title song. Down in Swampville, young raccoon Miles gets a saxophone for his birthday. And when Mama and Papa send him outside to practice, he connects up with three other ear-splitting musicians to form (as mouse trumpeter Doc dubs it) the Swamp Band. ""Soon the whole town cried out: 'SWAMP BANDS PLAY IN THE SWAMP!'"" There, the menacing alligators turn out (in a great turn-of-the-page) to be jazz enthusiasts: ""WE LOVE THAT SWAMP BAND MUSIC!!"" So that night, aboard the riverboat, the band plays for the Alligator Ball ""their favorite song"". . . MAMA DON'T ALLOW. . . to double-page spreads of the fancy-dressed, jiving alligators. But when the music is over, ""The alligators snapped their jaws and smacked their lips""; and the Swamp Band is about to go into the stew-pot when Miles suggests ""one more song""--a lullaby of Swampland that puts the alligators to sleep. . . and that Miles and the others play quietly up slumbering Main Street right up to his parents, waiting on the porch. High-energy, high-decibel fun for young rowdies, with some agreeable echoes (and never a suggestion of black caricature anywhere). Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
