For this month’s Music Book Review I am looking at the book Around The World In 80 Musical Instruments, a play on Around The World In 80 Days, by Nancy Dickman and Sue Downing. This one introduces you to, yes you guessed it, 80 different musical instruments from all around the world. Some you will have heard of and some you will be coming across for the first time.
Blurb from the back of the book:
Come on a journey around the globe to explore a musical cave, peek inside a piano and find out how to play an instrument without touching it.
From ancient instruments made from shells to instruments that make music with lightning, discover an orchestra of instruments you can shake, pluck, scrape, hit and blow – and how you can make your own. Learn how instruments are used in celebrations, ceremonies and stories of different cultures. Explore the weirdest, the loudest and everything in between.
What is this book about?
Around The World In 80 Musical Instruments by Nancy Dickman and illustrated by Sue Downing basically does what it says in the title. It talks about 80 different musical instruments that you will find on our planet.
In this non-fiction book the author divides up the different instruments into their families – as explained in this book, musical instruments are divided into various categories which are based on how those instruments are played (if you want a fuller explanation of how this works, please read my blog post below). From each of those families she chooses some of the hundreds of musical instruments that have been invented. First for each family, the reader is told a little bit about what that family of instruments has in common, and they are shown a map of the world with labels telling you which instruments the author is going to concentrate on in this section and where in the world those instruments come from. In the following few pages, the author goes on to talk about each of those instruments, explaining how they are played and where they come from. Given the age of the intended readers, there is just a short paragraph on each instrument to hold their readers’ attention, and the book is very much a whistle stop tour of instruments from around the world. Each section finishes with a suggestion on how to make your own instrument from that family of musical instruments. I am very tempted to have a go at making a couple of these suggestions. I will have to let you know how I get on if I do.
At the end of the book readers are encouraged to think about more musical instruments they could make and what qualities those musical instruments should have.
Illustrator Sue Downing beautifully complements Nancy Dickman’s words with her illustrations. The illustrations are cartoon style illustrations of both the instruments discussed in the book and people playing those instruments. For children, the illustrations in a book are equally important – sometimes much more so as they may need help understanding the words in a book, but the illustrations are much more accessible and understandable to them – and here Sue Downing’s illustrations are just as well pitched for the age if the intended reader as the information provided by the author, Nancy Dickman.
Who is this book for?
This is a non-fiction book for children interested in music, and if you are reading this review then this is almost certainly your child! I would say that it is aimed at the older end of primary school. These are readers who are becoming more fluent in reading independently, finding their own interests, thirsty for as much information as they can get on the subjects that interest them, but not yet ready for more in depth discussion on a topic. On Amazon, the suggested age range for this book is over 8 years old and I think I would agree with this, although I personally think my 7 year old would be fine reading this book too. I would suggest that once children have got towards the end of primary school age then this book is starting to get a bit too simple for them. This would be a good book to maybe spark an interest in the topic, but older children who were interested in this topic would definitely be left wanting to know more. I think my own recommendation would be that it is for 7-9 or maybe 10 year olds. I shall caveat this by saying, as I always do when discussing what age child I think this book is for, that you know your children far better than anyone else. You know what they are interested in, and their reading ability and how much detail they like to go into on a particular subject.
Where to buy the book
I bought this book from Waterstones over the summer and it will be available at many good book retailers. Checking on the day I write this review, the book is available on Amazon priced at £11.28 for a hardback copy and £9.19 in paperback, but do bear in mind that prices on Amazon can fluctuate depending on demand. It is also available in paperback on the Waterstones website priced at £9.99.
Would I recommend this book?
Yes, I would. I think that this book is perfectly pitched for primary ages children and may well introduce them to musical instruments they would not otherwise have heard of. I also really like the suggestions for musical instruments they can have a go at making themselves, and the encouragement to think about the way instruments make the sounds that they do. I also like the play on the classic novel Around the World In 80 Days by Jules Verne and the fact that this book could lead on to finding that one and either reading the book or, more likely at this age, discussing that story as well.
If you have enjoyed reading my blog post, thank you. I am always looking for ideas for the blog, so would love to hear from you with suggestions for topics you would like me to cover in the future. Also, if you would be interested in supporting me to keep this blog running, buying the books to review here, and supplies to make the DIY instruments, for example, I would be absolutely delighted if you would consider buying me a coffee using the following link: Buy Me A Coffee Thank you!!
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