OK. I confess I’m finally watching the “Benidorm” TV series so when I saw this, I may have accidentally misread the book title as “Swingers Island Band” and thought of Donald and Jacqueline. Thankfully, on closer inspection, this is “The Palm Tree Swingers Island Band”, with perhaps just an unfortunate font layout?

Anyway, with that cleared up, I loved the bright energetic cover, and the illustrations throughout are equally strong.

This is a simple picture book for young children which provides a good introduction to some more unusual musical instruments – harmonica, trombone, and harp – as well as some singing terminology like “soprano”, which makes it a perfect start to a music session encouraging children to explore different instruments and sounds, and play as a group.

I loved the line “You didn’t have to be there, you could hear it all at home” (and can imagine chaos in the classroom as we try to recreate the story) but was disappointed to discover the final message was the band was famous. Music should be about fun not fame, and certainly not when you’re 3. But I don’t suppose the young readers will notice that.

Blurb

Take a tiger, an orangutan, an elephant, an eagle, a rhino, a dragon, a spider, and a turtle. Mix with music till loud – you might want to stand back.

About the author

Lily Lawson is a poet and fiction writer living in the UK. She has poetry, short stories, and creative non-fiction published in anthologies and online in addition to her poetry books.