Starred Review Multiple award winner and New York Times best-selling author-illustrator Bell brings the absolute best of her exuberant wit to this inventive, zany, hilarious assemblage of album covers. After a deadpan introduction explains this "authentic" collection of rare vintage LPs, Bell presents a deeply silly, enormously enjoyable A to Z of animals as recording artists. Each letter gets a spread: lyrics of a single song on the left page, faced by full-bleed art of the album cover. Each song is an inspired take on a random, goofy topic ("An Enchanted Elbow," "So Many Ungrateful Ungulates") with deliciously ridiculous wordplay and impeccably deft rhyme. Meticulously crafted collages of hand-painted paper and paint strike every right note in cleverly recalling classic album-cover design of the mid- to late-twentieth century; from evocative choices in typography and color palettes to exuberant callouts and witty recording-label logos, Bell doesn't miss a single beat in crafting these realistic and riotously funny covers. Reveling in everything alliterative, the humor swings from goofy to groanworthy, from silly to sophisticated. Boomer grandparents will dig sharing this wacky callback to the glory days of vinyl, and kids of all ages will set the needle on endless replay to keep the hits coming in this solid-gold release. Rounding out this musical tour de force, Bell offers audio of these super silly songs accessible online via QR code.

Newbery Honoree Bell creates an entire high-fidelity world with this clever, irresistibly prodigious abecedarian, which features album cover art and one song’s worth of liner-note lyrics from 26 invented animal recording artists. The creaturely crooners—soloists and groups alike—represent each letter of the alphabet as well as musical genres ranging from classical to hip-hop, and album design aesthetics across the decades. Standing for S, Slow Surfin’ ’67 from the Sensational Sloth Boys sports a Pet Sounds–style cover and the ditty “Sometimes the Soup Is Salty” (“Sometimes the soup is salty/ But I’ll make it sweet for you”). Additionally, for each album, the creator

K-Gr 3 —A retro spin on the alphabet in this ode to vinyl music. In her opening note, Bell discusses her love of albums from the 1940s to the 1980s, particularly those by animal musicians! What follows is a series of album covers and song lyrics from 26 fanciful recording artists. Playing with genres and decades, the album covers and liner-note lyrics feature barbershop quartets in striped blazers and mind-bending psychedelic fonts and color. The letter M introduces Mandy and the Meerkats: dressed in matching pink dresses and sporting beehive hairdos, their featured song, "I'm in the Mood for Mustard" has a "doo-wah, doo-wah" chorus call-back to the golden age of Motown. A QR code gives readers the opportunity to listen to these "original" songs. An "About the Artists" section hilariously continues the fun, with tidbits that will have children and their tuned-in adults howling. VERDICT With wondrous handmade art, this abecedary will have readers of all ages shimmying and moonwalking. A recommended purchase.—Rosemary Kiladitis