Review Detail

The Day Bell Found Her Sound

Kids Fiction 176

Musical Adventure in Town

August 07, 2024

Overall rating

3.5

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

3.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

3.0

Bell lives in a town where nearly everyone plays a musical instrument, but she has never found one that lets her express herself the way she would really like. While everyone else is tootling around town on clarinets and marimbas, Bell contents herself to singing along with the ambient noises in her house. Still wanting to sound "like everyone else", she collects a number of instruments from her house and sets out to play them in public, to see which one will fit. It's not the trumpet or the accordion, and when she bursts into a loud drum solo, she finds that that is definitely not the right instrument either. She goes to a quiet spot in the park to collect herself, and starts to sing. The townspeople all gather around on their instruments and support her. Even though no one else in town sings, this is what ends up being Bell's sound.

Good Points

It was fascinating to read that the author and illustrator loves "vintage" artwork, because the digitally created images reminded me so strongly of the piles of 1980s and 90s books I read to my own children. I kept thinking Bell was a bear, because the style recalled Frank Asch's work so strongly, although in a much more subdued, pastel palette. And clearly, Bell has whiskers! There's also a touch of Richard Scarry, since the pages are packed with characters.

While there is plenty of music in this book, it is more about personal identity than music. I was somewhat curious as to why the town was so invested in instruments, and why no one sang except for Bell. Bell also seems to be carrying around an early 1980s Fisher-Price tape recorder with microphone, which she does not abandon around town like the rest of her instruments.

This is a great book to hand to children who are interested in making their own music, on their own terms. Add this to the chorus of other engaging music books for children that includes Bell's exuberant Animal Albums, Guidone and Brantley-Newton's Drum City, and Johnson and Huliska-Beith's Violet's Music.