Member Reviews

Fun and colorful! I really liked this informative and energetic book about music around the world. The art was cute and I liked the end notes.

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A colourful love letter to music, with the bulk of the pages having just a phrase on – certainly there's less than a sentence per page. The end matter proves how diverse the contents of the book – and therefore reinforces how wide-spread our sources of music – have been. This speaks of what music does to the body, and for our ancestors, and how it brings us all together, whether we like it or not. Even before you see the concluding pages and note the diversity on offer this was a quick, yet beneficial, read.

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Netgalley ARC - The art is vibrant and the words ring true! I loved the depiction of music's cultural significance.

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"And There Was Music" is a vibrant, energizing book. It is not reliant on the words to keep the reader moving forward, but rather the momentum is felt on the pages through shapes, color and musical imagery. I love how the simple language can help a child connect to music in different ways and also use it as a tool when they are feeling big emotions.

I always enjoy a little surprise extra at the back of books and the Into the Music section was a great bonus. I like how it takes you just a little deeper into the music that you saw on each page.

My only suggestion would be that while I know the words are secondary, you may want to bump them up a point size or two. That being said, I am reading this on a device so it may be to the right scale in a hard copy.

Overall, I will be recommending this book!

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I lovedddd this book! I think getting kids interested in music early is so important, and this book is full of simple but beautiful descriptions of what music can mean. I was happy to see the glossary in the back explaining what the different examples were depicting. This is a great musical resource for a younger kid or a perfect introduction for an older one. I loved the bright illustrations as well; the concept of music can be difficult to convey, but I think this book did a great job.

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A bright, bold, and culturally expansive book about the wonder of music. I enjoyed the engaging colors in the artwork but personally wished for a little more variation in line weights of people and objects to create just a but more depth to the otherwise very joyful illustration.

The standout here to me is the text--I've read several of these "let's celebrate the existence of a very broad creative medium" picture books, in fact I have specifically read one about music itself before, but I found myself pleasantly surprised at the creativity and non-formulaic quality to the statements about music and what it means to us.

The book ends with a very interesting glossary with an assortment of different instruments, types of music, and groups of musicians from around the world.

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