The Book About Tony Chestnut

PreS-Gr 2—The picture book written by Laurie Monopoli and illustrated by Wendy Sefcik provides backstory for The Learning Station's popular song, "Tony Chestnut." New to town, Tony and Eileen go outside for class recess, where they sit on a bench and watch the other children play. This makes Eileen sad, so Tony makes up a silly song to cheer her up. The other children join in on the song's actions, everyone becomes friends, and all ends well. The story just misses the mark. Sefcik's airbrushed cartoon-like artwork is bright and cheerful, but unrefined and problematic in a few places. Jeanne Bowyer reads expressively with a crisp British accent, though several unusual pronunciations may be unfamiliar to American listeners. Music and sound effects play in the background through most of the story, often detracting from the narration. Julian Scites does a fine job of reading the text as Tony Chestnut; there is a second track of Bowyer reading the text with page-turn signals. A four-minute track of rhetorical questions could be used to lead a discussion to help children explore their feelings. However, these questions might have been more useful if they were included in the book, since the music continues in the background during the response/contemplation time. The Learning Station's featured song, sung by Don Monopoli and a chorus of boys and girls, closes the recording. Though well-intentioned, this is just not up to par with the Learning Station's other wonderful releases.—Stephanie Bange, Wright State University, Dayton, OH