BODY MUSIC

Rhymes and reflections on body noises, from groans and giggles to sneezes, wheezes, and snores.

“Cough heads north, / fart goes south. / One by bottom, / the other by mouth.” Though the authors will no doubt be slapping their foreheads for neglecting to mention that there’s a word for tummy growls (“borborygmus”), they otherwise definitely deserve claps on the shoulder for this effervescent set of verses on sounds we produce…awake and asleep, voluntarily or otherwise. San Vicente’s rubbery figures, mostly a light- or dark-skinned array of young folk, blast or blow in theatrical accompaniment, and prose notes in the margins expand on each knee-slapping topic with explanations of biological causes (“sniffles and snuffles” are symptoms of a head cold) and chortle-worthy sidelight facts (“20% of people regularly crack their knuckles. Are you a frequent snap, crackle, and pop-er?”). Gagging, humming, and a few other sounds don’t make the cut, while yawning gets in without quite fitting the sonic premise. Still, the notion that bodies can become whole percussive orchestras for a rhythmic “dance party” gets airings fore and aft—offering readers an invitation to crack their knuckles and clap out musical explorations of their own.

The crowd-pleasing premise makes this a snap for reading solo or to virtually any audience.