Grandmas Band

This grandma doesn't bake mouth-watering pies or raise prize-winning roses-- this grandma is obviously a frustrated musician, and she gets herself a right good combo to prove it. One day she forgets to take off her thimble before proceeding to the washboard, and is entranced by the rhythmic sounds produced when metal meets metal: ``like a stick dragged along a picket fence, only louder.'' Singing along at the top of her lungs, Grandma is inspired to add more ``instruments,'' and assorted kitchen utensils continue the cacophony. These strange sounds reach the pond; before long an amiable duck joins in, quacking in counterpoint, and the band continues to expand. This silly down-home tale grows on the reader with each turn of a page, and it includes lyrics to several favorite ditties. An amusing landscape of patchwork-quilt hills is highlighted in Chan's suitably childlike, gaudy watercolors. Ages 4-8. (Nov.)