The ABC Animal Orchestra

PreS-K—According to the book's flap copy, its goal is to introduce animal friends playing instruments from around the world. Indeed, readers move through the alphabet in full spreads with an animal represented for each letter. At first each one is paired with an instrument, along with a few alliterative words that are also illustrated, adding a seek-and-find element to the book. The aardvark plays the accordion, and the dog plays the drum. But come to the "H," and things start to fall apart, with the hedgehog "Holding her ears," and "Intermission" and "Ice cream" for the "Iguana and Ibex." If you allow that a yodel and a whistle are instruments, there are still letters with no instrument at all. Clumsy folk art-style pen, pencil, and watercolor illustrations combine with inexpert collage elements for an overall disappointing experience. The alphabet concept book category is a crowded one, and any new entry had better be special.