The Animal Song

by Jonty Howley

From musician and author/artist Jonty Howley comes a lively celebration of friendship and music, perfect for a gentle nighttime read. The story comes with a link to an original song by the author!

Snap! Poom-poom! Jingle-Jangle! Three talented animals--a crocodile playing a snare drum, a big brown bear with a bass, and a weasel with a banjo--form a traveling band to sing and play for the other animals in the woods. From spring to fall, they always attract an eager crowd. But when winter comes, the animals in the audience go off to bed and the band searches for a new stage. Skipping their own bedtime, the musical trio parades through the forest, moving on to the next performance until-- Snore! Phew! Grumble-grumble!-- even the band falls asleep.

A rhythmic text interspersed with onomatopoeia make the story in The Animal Song nicely noisy until the very end when-- shh! --everyone is asleep. Featuring a website with original music composed by the author/illustrator, this book is perfect for helping young readers to get their sillies out right before it’s time to sleep!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Music, Childrens, Storytime, Fiction, Humor

40 pages, Hardcover

Published January 10, 2023

Reviews

[Charmian Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read but we read along to the audio book which includes music and it was so much better than it would have been without the audio. The music has a great rhythm and there is even a specific tune for when you turn the page.

[Ashley | AshleyTReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this from Dolly Parton‘s imagination library. The first time I read this, I thought it was fun, but it was nothing special. I probably would have given it three stars.

I listened to the audio of this book along with the reading the book today and absolutely loved it! The music is catchy, the voices are fun, and playing it along with the book was such a fun experience! The music is now stuck in my head and I cannot wait to read this one again tonight to my little ones before going to bed.

The audiobook is free on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, & Amazon Music. https://www.jontyhowley.com/more

[Fm Shipp · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for reading along with the free audio version, because my 8 year old kept saying, "I really like this!"

[Alexandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son loves dancing to the song that comes with the book. That being said I think it is a bit too long for his attention span at just under 2.

[Daniel Barrows · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the picture style, but the rhythm is inconsistent. It doesn't read through smoothly on the first attempt. I suspect one could practice and find a suitable rhythm to make the rhyming sound great, but it's not intuitive.
Also, the ending is rather abrupt. I was hoping for a message. No such luck.

[Lynnette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is such a hard book to read. The meter makes no sense. We finally listen to the audio track and the meter varies so often you would have to memorize it to smoothly read this book out loud. Very cute idea, the illustrations are fantastic, my 22-month-old often picks this book because of the sound effects, it is just incredibly hard to read out loud well.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lyrics and music for this picture book could lull even the most recalcitrant youngster to sleep, especially if the text is performed correctly. Future performers will want to check out the online version of the song and read-along on the author-illustrator's website. The plot centers around a band of musicians who enjoy entertaining all the woodland animals during the three seasons that are most suited for outdoor activities and concerts. The band members- a bear, a crocodile, and a weasel--love what they do, but their audience dwindles once cold weather arrives and everyone wants to stay warm and cozy indoors. There's no place for spirited music when so many animals are trying to sleep. Although they reach out to some of the animals, no one wants to hear those tunes, and the band moves on, traveling to a town where they quickly gathered an audience. But towns don't sleep, and the poor musicians never get any rest. By the time winter ends, the musicians are completely exhausted and ready for a long sleep. They head back home, and even when the other animals come calling, requesting some music, they slumber on, too tired to play. Youngsters will be tickled by all the animal and musical sounds that are woven through the rhyming narrative. That "snap-poom-jingle-jangle" (unpaged) emitted by the band's instruments is ever so catchy as are the illustrations, created with gouache, crayon, colored pencil, and then digitally edited. This is a big departure from the author-illustrator's equally creative earlier picture book, Big Boys Cry, but it's appealing in an entirely different way.

[Read Ribbet · Rating 5 out of 5]

A trio of animals -- a croc, a brown bear and the weasel -- perform a favorite song for all the other creatures in the woods until winter comes and the animals want peace and quiet leaving the trio without an audience. The trio ventures into the town knowing that the town never sleeps and find a willing audience. Unfortunately, they tire themselves out and head back to the forest to rest up. Using minimal rhyming text and repeated lines, the narrative text is very accessible for young readers. The book contains The Animal Song at the end and provides online access to the song and a read aloud of the story.

[TheRetiredSchoolLibrarian |Mrs. Ferraris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief summary: Crocodile, Brown Bear, and Weasel play the animal song all summer long to the delight of the forest animals. When winter arrives, they all want to sleep, so the band moves to the city, where they play night after night. The band becomes tired and wants to sleep, so they go back home. The forest animals wake in the spring and want to sing the animal song but find the three asleep.

The Animal Song Sheet Music is also in the back of the book.

Rating: 3.5/5 📗📗📗1/2

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack received this book from Dolly Parton. Dada tried to read it when it arrived, but Jack was not interested. Honestly, he wasn’t super interested tonight, but I kept pushing and we got through it.

When Jack wasn’t trying to wrestle Dada, he did seem to like my sing-song voice. I personally thought the book had a catchy rhythm and cute, kind of geometric illustrations. I wish the band had gotten up to play for the forest animals at the end, but they certainly deserved a rest.

[O · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Age: 18 months) A great little bedtime story reminding us that we all need to take a break and rest sometimes, even from the things we love to do. The illustrations are striking if a little bit difficult to decipher sometimes (are those mice? pigs? bears?). You love the "crocodile", "bear", "weasel" in the band, plus the "street car" and city scenes. I never looked up how to properly perform this book and so only do little bits of it in a singsong voice.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A band of animals loves playing so much that they want to do it after all the other forest animals go to sleep. So the mosey to the town where so many critters want them to play that eventually they are exhausted and don't even play for the arrival of spring.

I understand many reader's frustrations with the clumsy rhythm. Here's how I solved it: I "rap" it. It works beautifully!

Recommended for storytime.

[Cassandra Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son enjoys the book, but it makes me cranky. I'm getting tired of books for children not using proper meter for their rhymes. It really isn't that hard to keep the meter consistent. The irony, too, is that this book has a song version available on Youtube. You can listen to the author try to fit too many syllables into one line and then streeeetch out the rhyme scheme on another line.

[Jessica M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my son in a sing song manner and he loves it. He is 3 and this is currently his favorite book. Then I saw there was a YouTube video of the actual song and it's alot slower than the version I made up and sang myself! My son enjoys both versions. There's one part that doesn't quite work in either song with either pacing. Otherwise this is a wonderful little fun book.

[Baylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both me and my daughter love this on. It can be read more like a song which she loves and makes for a good reading experience for me as well. The illustrations are gorgeous. I love the color choices and style. I know there's a free audio song version of the book, but we've mostly just read it ourselves. My daughter continues to pick it out again and again, even back-to-back.

[Danielle T · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a recent Dolly Parton Imagination Library gift (I am behind on reading/logging these) and it's cute but the rhyme rhythm made no sense to me until I flipped to the back and saw it is in 4/4 with occasional 2/4 measures and...that would do it.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a cute and fun read! Though the ending was not quite what I expected (hence only 4 stars instead of the 5 I was thinking it would be most of the read).

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always on the lookout for good instrument/music books for storytime. This one will do very nicely!

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is SO cute!!! I love the illustrations and the way the story rhymes is so much fun! I definitely want to use this for storytime.

[Lacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids and I thought it was very cute and were able to enjoy a musical accompaniment online that was listed in the back of the book.

[Jen Minehardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the colorful, whimsical illustrations. Love that there is a piece children can listen to alongside the reading of text.

[Terisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will be great to incorporate for music class. With sheet music in the back and a good quick rhyme this will be a hit.

[Aolund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing earth-shattering, but a cute sing-song picture book featuring music, animals, and bedtime.

Themes: Music
Age range: Toddler-Kindergarten

[Rachel Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! Listened to the sing along, too. Is great for a read aloud or bedtime story.

[Patricia J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet story but the rhyme/meter felt awkward - as though it kept changing

[Halon W · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, quite cute

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love--a song, repitition, a simple story and friendly illustrations. The recorded song is cute and calm, too.

[kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute enough

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the jazzy rhythm of the words. This would work great for a music storytime, or even a winter storytime.