The Carnival of the Animals (Book & CD) - Hardcover

Prelutsky, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 037586458X ISBN 13: 9780375864582

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2010

Synopsis

A great way to introduce children to classical music.

America’s first Children's Poet Laureate has written all-new verses to accompany the composer Camille Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals, and the illustrator of the Harry Potter books has turned these rollicking rhymes into a picture-book fun fest. Included is a CD of the music and of Jack Prelutsky reading the verses. A note to parents and teachers by Judith Bachleitner, head of the music department at the prestigious Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, suggests ways preschoolers can act out the music—tromp like an elephant, hop like a kangaroo, glide like a swan—or, for older children, be creatively inspired by this joyful work.

About this title

About the Author

Jack Prelutsky, America’s first Children’s Poet Laureate, is the king of funny verse. Two of his recent books are The Swamps of Sleethe: Poems from Beyond the Solar System and Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More.

Mary GrandPré is best known as the illustrator of the Harry Potter books. She has also illustrated The Blue Shoe by Roderick Townley and the picture book Chin Yu Min and the Ginger Cat by Jennifer Armstrong.

Reviews

Gr 1-7–Prelutsky has created a group of poems that match the animals that Saint-Saëns portrayed in his famous classical work, composed in 1886. Read alone or in tandem with the accompanying CD, the sounds of the animals come through in the poetic form with Prelutsky's use of repetition, alliteration, and carefully placed line breaks. Listen to “Roosters and Hens” and the “peck peck peck” and “cluck cluck cluck” bring these skittery creatures to mind. The CD allows readers to listen for the same animal through Saint-Saëns's music, which brings the chickens alive in a very different way. In “Birds” children can hear the “flitter” that Prelutsky describes come alive in the tones of the flute. Having children tune in to the sounds, whether poetic or orchestral, creates a sensitivity to music in all its forms. A third dimension is added with GrandPré's vibrant art, which suggests movement through the use of collage and luminous acrylics. This is a carnival, after all, and the rich colors bring to mind the otherworldliness a carnival provides. While music teachers will want this book to complement their introduction of the sounds of the orchestra, it is also a collection children will enjoy on their own. Teachers will enjoy sharing Prelutsky's use of “just the right words” when describing each animal. It is onomatopoeia at its best.–Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 037586458X
• ISBN 13: 9780375864582
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: GrandPre Mary
• Number of pages: 40