Amazing Animals from A to Z by Cece Bell (Walker Books, 64 pages, grades K-4). In her introduction, Cece Bell writes of her love of animal albums, a collection she’s acquired through the years by scouring thrift shops and antique malls. The heyday of these albums was the 1940’s through the 1980’s, when artistic differences (and toileting issues) between the animals and their human producers led to the industry’s demise. Cece has compiled an A-Z collection of her albums, with the lyrics to a song from each, from “My Aromatic Armpit Is Astonishing to All” by armadillo accordion player Arnie Dillow to “You Snooze, You Ooze” by the Zydeco Zebras. Amazingly, a QR code allows readers to listen to a recording of every song in the book. An “About the Artists” section rounds out the collection, with a paragraph about each musician or band.

This incredibly original, creative, and funny book will have kids laughing and rocking out as they enjoy the animal musicians both on the page and on their phones. I confess that the introduction was so convincing that for a second there I thought such albums actually existed. At the other end of the book, I had a brief moment of concern when I noticed that Tom Angleberger isn’t included in the “About the Author” information, but a quick trip to Wikipedia assured me that children’s literature’s favorite wacky couple is still together.

Poetry Comics by Grant Snider (Chronicle Books, 96 pages, grades 2-5). And speaking of favorites, everyone’s favorite orthodontist-by-day-illustrator (and now poet)-by-night has produced a fun and appealing collection of poems, illustrated comic-style. Divided by season, both the poems and the illustrations are brief meditations on nature, school, and life, both funny and profound. The poems are one to two pages, divided into comic book squares, with a line or two in each box, and illustrated with simple figures and backgrounds.

These would make an excellent introduction to poetry for the primary grades. Older students, even middle schoolers, might enjoy trying their hands at poetry comics of their own. All in all, this is a fun and accessible introduction to poetry.