The Ant and the Grasshopper
PreS-Gr 3-Continuing their reimagining of classic tales and employing the brilliantly colored, textured illustrations that are the trademark of their retellings, the Emberleys now focus their attention on a fable from Aesop and turn it into a paean to the music of New Orleans. The story of the industrious ant takes on a new twist when she stumbles upon "a grasshopper and his buggy band making music with complete abandon." The book is chock-full of visual interest and superb vocabulary words ("persevered," "blistering," "hoisting," and more), and the ant discovers that music can make any burden lighter. Inviting the jazzy bug band back to her underground colony, the group moves on to "Laissez les bon temps rouler!" with the foldout translating for children, "Let the good times roll!" While this does not have the hilarity found in Chicken Little (Roaring Brook, 2009), it still makes a splendid read-aloud for a wide variety of age levels, encouraging examination of the energetic illustrations and discussion of the role that music plays in our lives.-Sharon Grover, Hedberg Public Library, Janesville, WIα(c) Copyright 2011.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.