BARNYARD BOOGIE!

A more musical barnyard there never was!

“The Barnyard Band is performing today. / All the musicians are ready to play!” Horse has a tuba, and Goat plays the sax. But Cow can only moo. “Cat bows the fiddle. ZINGA ZINGA ZEE! / Pig plays piano. PLINKA PLINKA PLEE!!” Sheep holds the trumpet with the confidence of a New Orleans jazz master, and Dog expertly manages an enormous drum set…but the cow still just moos. “The crowd is waiting to hear the show. / ‘How will they start?’ ‘When will they go?’ ” Who will lead the band, asks Owl, “WHOOOO?” And then the tension’s finally broken: “COW, of course! ‘AND-A-ONE-AND-A-MOOOOOO!’ ” And thus begins a very successful barnyard concert. McCanna’s simple and alliterative onomatopoeic text flows across the page in a variety of bright colors, and its brevity and unfaltering scansion suit it well to a toddler audience. Black’s digitally created, colorful illustrations resemble paper cutouts decorated with chalk. The animals have a Matisse-y look to them, and the full-bleed backdrops, which merely suggest a barnyard, are as bright as the big-eyed animals.

It’s nothing innovative or heretofore unseen, but it is a good addition to storytimes on barnyard animals, music, or finding one’s talent.