All Eyes on Ozzy!
Ozzy is a boisterous brown-skinned girl who loves attention. She also loves her music teacher, Ms. Bomba, who always makes learning fun. When all the kids in her music class are assigned instruments (which they all can miraculously play), she chooses the drums because she knows they are the loudest and most likely to get her noticed in the orchestra. But she is disappointed to learn that she is just expected to keep the beat so that all the other instruments will stay in sync. Bo-o-o-ring! Reluctantly, she does as she’s told, and she does so well, Ms. Bomba gives her a second instrument to play—the equally boring triangle. When the orchestra is part of the school program and the otherwise outgoing Ozzy first sees the big audience, she is frozen in fear and can’t play a single beat. Consequently, the orchestra is off beat until Ms. Bomba helps Ozzy stay focused by rhythmically tapping her shoe. There’s a lot of humor in this story about a young cat-ear-wearing extrovert. The cartoon-style ink-and-watercolor illustrations show the classroom dynamics at play among a diverse group of students who have an especially beloved and creative teacher. ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
Illustrated by K-Fai Steele
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 4-7
Age Range:
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Format:
Picture book
Subjects:
Fear
Helpfulness
Humor
Music and Musicians
School
Teachers/Mentors
Diversity subject:
Brown Skin Unspecified
Publishers:
Balzer + Bray, HarperCollins
Publish Year: 2021
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9780062748584
CCBC Location: Picture Book, Steele