Marching Band

Upbeat couplets from Tudor describe the wide-ranging adventures of a ragtag marching band in this cheering picture book that features an ample wind-down. A child and two animal companions start things off, parading through the city to a chant that becomes an iterative refrain: “The city! The city!/ They march on through the city!” Picking up an additional player at every location, the ever-expanding crew journey past a building site, across the beach, and into “the briny deep” for a concert that takes place inside bubbles before the route twists into a jungle and then up a mountainside. After a much-deserved rallying rest, the unstoppable crew head into outer space before Earth—and an extended route to bedtime—finally beckon. Hindley’s fully realized cartoons draw out the conceit’s humor via googly-eyed characters who lug their myriad instruments across snow and stars alike. It’s a raucous jaunt that yields fresh reasons for appreciation across repeated reads. Human characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (July)