I first came across this book in one of my university classes (Music for the Child)and fell in love with it immediately. It is now is my son's (age 2 1/2) favorite book. Even my husband loves it. We can all recite it by heart. It's a great way to introduce musical instruments to young children. My son recently saw a harp in person for the first time and recognized it right away because of this story. The prose, the illustrations - all are wonderful!!! A must for any child's library!

One musician after another begin to practice their instrument on the stage of the theater until ten musicians are playing their instruments, creating an orchestra of beautiful music that two cats, one mouse and one dog enjoy along with the audience. Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin has bright, award-winning illustrations and curved, rhyming text that teaches numbers, musical instruments and musical terms in an exciting way. The background colors of the pages change throughout the book. The vivid colors Moss uses are red, pink, orange, green, and yellow. Since the illustrations do not have any distinction between the floor and wall, when the focus is on one instrument, the other musicians and their instruments seem to float in the background. The appearance of them floating or flying creates excitement and movement in the story. The violinist's movements are described in the text as, "soaring high and moving in." Several of the musicians have curved arms or bodies, which contributes to motion and the playing of music. Also, this book is multicultural in that it includes Caucasians, an African American cellist and an Asian flutist. These all assemble together to form a ten- piece orchestra. Most of the text is printed in a curved or waved pattern and correlates with the curved illustrations and the sense of motion created by the musicians playing the instruments. Words such as "moan," "tone," "oiled," "coiled," "throbbing," "sobbing," and "gliding," "sliding" rhyme, and create a flowing pattern as they are read. These words as well as "sleek," "black," "breezy," "yellow," and "rings" beautifully describe the way musical instruments look and sound. Moss uses alliteration as another stylistic device to generate excitement. He describes the trumpet as, "sings and stings its swinging song." The text that accompanies the flute describes it this way: "sends our soul a-shiver; ...slender, silver sliver." Also the text is a counting sequence which teaches numbers. As each instrument is added to the group, the text counts. For example, "Two, now three-o, what a trio!" Along with the numbers, the musical terms for instruments playing together, such as duo, trio, and quartet, are incorporated as seen in the quote, "what a trio!" The numbers paired with the music terms inform the reader of the number of instruments that compose a quartet, quintet, sextet, and the other groups. Priceman uses beautifully colored illustrations to orchestrate a sense of excitement as the musicians gather together to perform. At the same time, Moss uses stylistic devices of rhyming and alliteration and the use of numbers and musical vocabulary to delight and to teach.

Lloyd Moss is DJ for a classical music radio station in New York, and had never written a children's book before his superlative "Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin." Lucky man, he hit it out of the park with his very first attempt.

Moss uses propulsive, rhyming text to introduce children not only to different musical instruments, but to the Italian terms by which their groupings are known (solo, duo, trio and so on). Moss's poetry is enhanced immeasurably by illustrator Marjorie Priceman's vigorous and colorful artwork. Borrowing elements from Chagall, Rousseau, and Bemelmans--without ever stooping to a visually derivative look--Priceman's pictures more than matches the energy of Moss' text. Her colors are lush and saturated: a rich periwinkle, jet black, sunset pink, and lipstick red all work together here, along with shots of teal, orange, grey and other colors. The overall effect is, quite simply, delicious. The whole leaves you wanting more--exactly the effect any children's book should have.

One of the greatest collections of real life stories of people who saw and angel or felt their presence. All the stories contained herein involve people who were not only watched over and protected by angels because of their faith and trust in God, but also whose faith and trust in God was born, rekindled, renewed, strengthened and/or even confirmed as a result of their experiences, as written herein. While reading this book, you will see how God sent and still sends his holy angels to watch over us, protect us and surround us when need be. Angel are here among us. You better believe it.
My parents used to read to me these very stories when I was young and I'm not about to deprive my kids of such a treasure. Now that I have rediscovered this book, I'm going to read it to my kids. God Bless!!!