by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 12, 2009

George Ella Lyon is a poet who writes children's books in prose. But there's rhymes and rhythms in "Five Live Bongos." (Even part of the title rhymes!) She's playing with the sound of words, in a story about children fascinated by noises. It's fun to read out loud - because you get to pronounce her imaginary words

A painter has five children - but their only joy is music. ("The brushes they wanted were the ones that shazz a snare drum.") The quiet house is drawn in blue, but the children are shown in color. "Tom for the tom-tom, Pat for the hi-hat, Kelly for the kettle drum, Bella for the big bass." They don't have those instruments, but they do have pots and pans, spatulas, and two trash can lids. ("And on the tambourine, Sarah Maureen...") The whole book will follow their noisy parade - and their plan to make it even noisier.

Jacqueline Rogers drew the illustrations, and she finds creative ways to suggest the gathering chaos. She scatters several images across a single page. She draws the children's parade reflected in a coffee pot. When the parents stop the parade, they're seen as reflections in the red tile floor. One picture is even upside down, because one girl is walking on her hands. (So a cat on the floor is upside at the top of the page - raising its back.) And for sunset, Rogers includes a beautiful watercolor sky of orange and red.

They're busy illustrations, but it's the only way to match the wordplay in Lyons' simple yet imaginative text.

BANG CRASH ARTICHOKE!

RATTA-TATTA CHINK!

Daddy couldn't mix his paints

Mama couldn't think

As Lyon counts out the five children, Rogers draws the children's bodies actually forming the shape of numbers. And eventually, the happy children are delighted at the metals they find - at the dump (where a complicated picture shows vast piles of discarded furniture).Lyon uses words like "Boom-a-loom" (and, when they're singing, "halloo"), and one page actually begins with the words "STRAGGLE AGGLE COMBAH!" So the unpredictable drawings match the energy of the out-of-control children. In one drawing, even the dog covers his ears!

They "Drummed on the bread pans, drummed on the skillets, malleted the pot lid chu-ka-chued the trays." But towards the end of the book, they've assembled it all into a noise-making heap, and dubbed themselves "the Found Sound Band." And the artist ultimately suggests a happy ending. She draws one final picture, where the noisy children appear in a cubist painting - presumably created as a tribute by their frustrated father, the painter!

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