Shortly after my review of the I Discover board books by Pirouette Kids, I came across a series on musical instruments from Kidenza. They kindly sent me a review copy of the Let’s Explore Piano book so I could check it out.
The book is beautifully designed, with an accurately proportioned keyboard pictured on the front cover. Wheelchair-bound Anna guides the reader through each page spread about the piano, although it isn’t until near the end that we learn her name. It would have made sense to introduce her in the beginning and have a storyline into which all the information was woven, but most of the book is more of a conglomeration of facts about the piano.
Readers will learn how a piano works, a brief history of keyboard instruments, the letter names of the keys, the names of a handful of famous pianists, and a few Italian musical terms. Several of the pages have QR codes that you can scan to watch videos of supplemental material, and two of the page spreads are interactive, inviting the reader to find pictured objects and spot the differences between two scenes. One page spread contrasts two pianists and their positions sitting at the piano – “Silly Sasha” and “Perfect Penny.” Piano teachers might take issue with “Perfect Penny,” whose elbows are well below the hands on the keys and wrists are resting on the piano. I’m sure that won’t be a detraction for little ones who will enjoy this colorful introduction to the piano and hopefully be inspired to learn to play it themselves!
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