Animal Musicians

Animal Musicians by Pedro Alcalde. Book. 60 pp. The Secret Mountain. 2019. $14.95.

Grades 2 – 5

Pedro Alcalde, a noted orchestra conductor, showcases 14 animals, from the enormous humpback whale to the tiny St. Andrew’s Cross Spider. He devotes 4 pages to each animal, including facts about the animal’s behavior and habitat, and information about the “music” that the animal produces. Julio Antonio Blasco creates lovely artwork for each animal. The other animals in the collection include gibbons, superb lyrebirds, wolves, nightingales, starlings, northern cardinals, cicadas, Atlantic canaries, sac-winged bats, musician wrens, Chinese torrent frogs, and club-winged manakins. Readers interested in hearing the sounds can go to the publisher’s website, to listen to a recording of all the animals, except for the spider, which produces vibrations rather than sound. The link is: https://www.thesecretmountain.com/portfolio/animal-musicians/. This book, originally published in Spain, provides fascinating facts that will help increase a child’s understanding of nature.