John Robert Allman

I adore Broadway. So when I heard last year that this book was coming out....I just had to look it up! Well, it took forever to come in. But it finally did. And I'm so happy I got to look at it.

It won't appeal to everyone. In fact, it's not an alphabet book I would even consider for a storytime. BUT what I love is all of the strong female singers that are represented. Classic throwbacks like Judy Holliday (who no, didn't get her own letter but still was acknowledged) to THE Audra MacDonald and Idina Menzel (love the Frozen reference) to the newbies like Laura Osnes.

It's such a fun book!~… (mer)

I was excited when I saw that this book existed and I asked my library to get it. I was the first person on hold for it. I ended up being frustrated by the book. This book should have been my cup of tea, even as a child. I’m a fan of musicals. I saw my first the summer I was 8 years old in a tent theater in Sacramento. It was Bye Bye Birdie. The summer I was 10 I saw more than 30 in NYC, both on and off Broadway, and I’ve seen quite a few since then. The Sound of Music is my favorite movie. I never got to see the stage production with Mary Martin but my parents did and I think the original cast album was my first record not specifically made for children.

I’m not a huge fan of this book though. I don’t know who the intended readership is meant to be. I suppose it could be for older kids but many of the musicals and stars mentioned are from before their time. There isn’t enough there for adult me. The list of leading ladies at the end with lists of some of their more famous show appearances was most interesting to me, I guess. I was not riveted nor did I want to spend any extra time poring over the book. It did not meet my expectations. The poetry in the book proper is okay but it somehow didn’t flow well for me. Maybe I’d have enjoyed reading this more if more of the information was new to me. Maybe it would be a good introduction but I am not sure.

The book proper has a strange structure. How the alphabet is assigned is just peculiar. Sometimes it’s one woman, using the spelling of first or last name or middle of first name in one case, sometimes it’s even a man non-performer for that matter (and that wasn’t necessary to do!) and sometimes it’s a few women, sometimes it’s none, and not just for the problematic letter X but in this case for the letter Y too.

I didn’t like the art style though taste in art is obviously very personal. Some people of all ages are sure to enjoy it.

I feel really badly as I don’t like giving negative reviews and I know that a lot of work and passion went into creating this book, and also because I was looking forward to this one and wanted to love it.

2-1/2 stars, rounded down because of my disappointment and because it’s surprising to me that I wouldn’t find a book on this subject much more interesting than I did.… (mer)