Blurb from the School Library Journal: A boy is just dozing off during an outdoor concert when zoo critters storm the stage, steal away the instruments, and settle down to perform. Musical mayhem ensues as a yak plays the sax, a bonobo plays oboe, a ferret plays flute, and more, until the animal artistes finish their piece, take a bow, and contentedly return to their enclosures. Bursting with colour, texture, and humour, the cartoon artwork is in perfect harmony with the zany lyrics. A read-aloud with pizzazz, this book also includes a CD of Lithgow performing the song with an orchestra.
The CD which accompanies this book is terrific fun. You can hear the book text and song lyrics accompanied by all the instruments of the orchestra - it's a very catchy tune. The wordless page from the text has an especially terrific musical interlude.
Look at the wonderful vocabulary used in this book - reminisced; contentment; erupted; balmy; storming the stage; and superabundance.
This book (2014) is sadly out of print but if you can find a copy in a well stocked library here are a set of teaching notes. Take a look here to see the proof pages for Never play music right next to the Zoo. You might also like to expand on these words which cross reference another famous song:
"The hippo had chosen the tuba to toot, by the light of the silvery moon."
John Lithgow has several books with musical or poetry or song offerings:
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