Just Jammin'! Bears in the Band by Shirley Parenteau and David Walker

MUSIC MAKERS

ARE ON THE CHAIRS.

IS THERE A BAND?

WHERE ARE THE BEARS?

The four chairs are lined up in a row, each one with a waiting instrument. But when will the concert begin?

Then in comes the band--Fuzzy, Yellow, Calico, and Floppy! Calico hugs his trumpet and tootles--Toot Toot! Fuzzy warms up by banging his cymbals--Klang Klong! Yellow tries out the string of bells--Ding-a-ling-ling!--and Floppy beats a quick Rom-pom-pom on his little snare drum.

Now it's time to strike up the band!

THE BEARS ALL PLAY

A NOISY SONG.

THEY DON'T CARE

IF THE NOTES ARE WRONG.

But over the "music", the little bears hear another sound.

SNORE!

It's Daddy! BIG BROWN BEAR!

OOPS! Big Brown Bear peers sleepily from under his blanket and grumpily asks what's going on out there! The "music" suddenly switches to silence.

Is this the end of the four little bears' jam session?

Not with Big Brown Bear taking the podium. Wielding a kitchen ladle as a bear-y big baton, he gives the downbeat for the band, in Shirley Parenteau's newest in her Bears In Chairs series, Bears in a Band (Bears on Chairs) (Candlewick Press, 2016). Parenteau's rhyming quatrains set the bouncy beat, as David Walker's exquisite pastel-toned tubby Teddies bounce out of their familiar chairs and march behind Dad to make music to their heart's content. Walker's plushy little bears are all curved lines with charmingly childlike body language, each figure delicately outlined in smudgy yellow and set mostly in spot-art style against white backgrounds, with occasional pastel double-page spreads. A perfect story book prompt for impromptu family or preschool music-making sessions!

A great pairing for this one are any of Parenteau's and Walker's books, Bears in Beds, (See review here), Bears on Chairs, Bears in the Snow (Bears on Chairs), and Bears and a Birthday (Bears on Chairs).