This month’s PB review is by Ryan G. Van Cleave (Owner/Operator of Only Picture Books) and Connecticut-based author/illustrator Abi Cushman.
–Ryan’s Review of the Writing–
In this simple rhyming book by Helen and Thomas Docherty, Blue Baboon shows up at a park where an animal music trio is jamming. Since Blue Baboon notices a bassoon just waiting there for someone to play it, she gives it a shot. Only she’s not musically talented, so Elephant yanks back the instrument.
A storm ends the scene, and leaves a drippy Blue Baboon wandering until she sees a hot-air balloon. As the balloon goes up, up and away, Elephant hands her the bassoon as Blue Baboon sails off to a sand dune where she runs into Green Baboon–someone who appreciates her out-of-tune music at last. Why? Because Green Baboon croons out of tune.
The text is minimal–perhaps a few dozen words in total, with most of them rhyming with “Baboon.” As so often happens with such a strict adherence to rhyme, the story gets a bit illogical (like the sudden appearance of a monsoon, or how Elephant inexplicably gives away a bassoon), but overall, early educators and parents can use this book to introduce very young readers to colors, animals, musical instruments, and rhymes.
The selling point is the fine artwork and the cute animals, which I’ll let Abi discuss in full, though I’ll note that even I noticed the teensy red balloon with a heart in it on every spread. Charming.
All in all, it’s a fun, sweet book.
4.25 out of 5 pencils
–Abi’s Review of the Illustrations–
In Blue Baboon Finds Her Tune, Thomas Docherty’s playful illustrations are a real delight. They are bright, bold, and fun. I love the energy and vibrancy he instills in the nighttime city scenes and his expressive, endearing characters. With this sparse text, which is primarily driven by the sound of the words, Thomas does the heavy lifting when it comes to storytelling. Kids will not only enjoy watching Blue Baboon on her adventure, they will also have fun following the red balloon that drifts into the sky and makes its way into all the subsequent scenes.
With music being a major part of the story, Thomas was tasked with finding a creative way to SHOW music, and he does a wonderful job of this, portraying sounds–both harmonious and out of tune–with whimsical stars and colored lightning bolts. The expressions on the surrounding characters’ faces when Blue Baboon doesn’t quite hit the right note really amps up the humor in the story as well.
Thomas includes several hints in the illustrations of what’s to come. For example in the initial scene, we see a sign advertising Nighttime Balloon Rides. In the scene where Blue Baboon is playing the bassoon, we see part of a cloud rolling in. But I think he could have pushed this even further and included even more of these hints and Easter eggs in the illustrations. Perhaps we could have seen a peek of the umbrellas that were apparently behind the bear in earlier scenes or a peek of Green Baboon’s tail behind the dune.
One illustration that might get a lot of attention is actually located on the back endpapers. Thomas brings all the characters back in a hot-air balloon scene, like the cat family who lost the red balloon and the ducks from the park. Kids will enjoy flipping back through the book to follow those characters’ storylines more carefully.
All in all, I found Thomas’s illustrations to be chock full of kid appeal, and I think young readers will enjoy poring over these pictures again and again.
4.5 out of 5 crayons
Abi Cushman is the author-illustrator of Animals Go Vroom! (Viking), Soaked! (Viking), and Wombats Are Pretty Weird (Greenwillow), which hits shelves in summer 2023. She has also worked as a web designer for over 15 years, and runs two popular websites of her own: MyHouseRabbit.com and AnimalFactGuide.com, which was named a Great Website for Kids by the American Library Association. In her spare time, Abi enjoys running, playing tennis, and eating nachos. (Yes, at the same time.) She lives on the Connecticut shoreline with her husband and two kids.
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