Kate DeMonica: "Crash Bang Donkey!"

"Crash Bang Donkey" by Jill Newton is a story about a farmer that struggles because crows keep eating his corn and he is not getting any sleep. Suddenly Crash Bang Donkey appears with almost every instrument possible and wakes the farmer. The farmer is upset until he realizes that the loud noises that Crash Bang Donkey produces is keeping the crows away. At the end of the book Crash Bang Donkey can play to his heart's content. This book is useful in a music classroom because the illustrations depict almost every instrument that would be found in a band. Along with those pictures, there is an onomatopoeia to describe what kinds of sounds each instruments make. This helps kids make connections between instrument names, what they look like, and sounds that they produce. This book also describes instruments that are typically really loud and instruments that are softer, which can teach children about different timbres and dynamics.