LOUD! by Rose Robbins

LOUD! by Rose Robbins. Scallywag Press, 2023. 9781912650569






Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 2



Format: Hardcover picture book



What did you like about the book? Abigail doesn’t mean to be bad, but sometimes she just wants to be LOUD. When she is sent to the quiet room at school, she’s late for her new music class. But once she’s there, she’s encouraged by her new teacher Miss Butler to be loud and express herself through SONG! A QR code in the back of the book takes readers to a YouTube video where they can hear the song that Abigail and her classmates perform together. This picture book has bold, clear illustrations to match its message: sometimes all we need is the right outlet to help us express big feelings.



Anything you didn’t like about it? While this book is cute, I think there are better books dealing with this kind of subject matter and also much more fun tie-in songs (like Paletero Man by Lucky Diaz). The style of illustration and the story are too young for the school-age kids for whom this story was presumably written.



To whom would you recommend this book? This book would probably be best received by school-age kids and I might recommend it to parents and teachers looking for books about big feelings, self-expression, kids with ADHD, and classroom rules or etiquette, but it would not be my first choice.



Who should buy this book? Maybe public libraries with larger collections (but I don’t think it’s a necessary purchase).



Where would you shelve it? Picture book collection; maybe a social/emotional, big feelings, etc. section if you have it.



Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No



Reviewer: Mary Boutet, Robbins Public Library, Arlington MA



Date of review: July 29, 2023