We Are Music

by Brandon Stosuy, Nick Radford (Illustrator)

Overview

From the author of Music Is... Brandon Stosuy comes a second pitch-perfect board book that’s a kid-friendly music history lesson—perfect for the little record collectors in your life.

From music writer and The Creative Independent/Kickstarter Editor in Chief, Brandon Stosuy, comes a new board book called We Are Music that dives into the history of music.

It starts with clapping, tapping, and drums, and from there the music moves in many different directions. From classical to blues to jazz to country to rock to punk to rap to hip hop, there is one important thread that weaves through every song that has ever been created: us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534409422
Publisher:	Little Simon
Publication date:	08/21/2018
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Brandon Stosuy is the cofounder and editor in chief of The Creative Independent, published by Kickstarter. He previously worked as director of Editorial Operations at Pitchfork. Brandon curates the annual Basilica SoundScape festival in Hudson, New York, and has been a music curator at both MoMA PS1 in New York City and the Broad museum in Los Angeles. He is the author of three books on creativity, Make Time for Creativity, Stay Inspired, How to Fail Successfully, and two children’s books, Music Is... and We Are Music. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.

Nick Radford is an illustrator, musician, dad(ford), and record collector. He has produced illustration work for the likes of Google, The Guardian, DK, Bantam Press, BBC, LG, Vodafone, Cadbury, Easyjet, and Kodak—as well as a host of independent magazines, clothing and record labels, and events. Signed to Ubiquity Records (USA) as one half of The Mighty Sceptres, Nick’s music has also seen previous releases on Freestyle Records (UK) as Frootful; remixes by Kenny Dope; tracks appearing on cult US TV show Ray Donovan and a Steven Soderbergh film; and features by Wax Poetics and KCRW. His music showcases his love of 50s and 60s soul, R ’n’ B, and jazz…the kind of thing he plays on original forty-fives with collector friends at his monthly night, Soul Cookin’.

Editorial Reviews

2018-08-14

This ambitious board book aims to promote an eclectic appreciation for music of all kinds.

Music, from drumming to computer-generated sound, is introduced as a linear historical sequence with two pages devoted to each of 11 styles, including medieval European, orchestral, blues, and more. Most of the musicians are portrayed as children, many with darker skin tones and with hairstyles and garb commonly associated with each type of music. Radford works in a retro cartoon mode, varying his presentation slightly with each new musical style but including a dancing dachshund on almost every spread, presumably to enhance child appeal. Unfortunately, the book just can't succeed in reducing such a wide range of musical styles to toddler-appropriate language. The first two spreads read: "We start with clapping, tapping, and drums. // Lutes, flutes, and words are what we become." The accompanying illustrations show, respectively, half-naked drummers and European court figures reading, writing, and playing a flute. Both spreads feature both brown-skinned and pale-skinned figures. At first reading this seems innocent enough, but the implication that clapping and drumming are somehow less civilized or sophisticated than a European style is reinforced in Stosuy's glossary of music terms. He describes "Prehistoric Music" as "rhythmic music [made] with rocks, sticks, bones, and…voices," while "Renaissance Music" is defined as "multiple melodies played at the same time."

The history of music is a big topic, and more-nuanced explanation is needed than the format allows. (Board book. 2-4)

Kirkus Reviews