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Book Review of Philadelphia Chickens

Philadelphia Chickens
Philadelphia Chickens
Author: Sandra Boynton
Genre: Children's Books
Book Type: Audio CD
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Helpful Score: 1


ISBN 0761146725 - One thing you ought to know, right off the bat: if you're picking this up used, and it doesn't come with the CD, don't bother. This is one case where the book, while cute, isn't much of anything without the CD. Not to belittle the book. It's just that this is an unusual instance. This time, the book is more supplemental to the CD, rather than the more common reverse scenario.

This is the soundtrack, complete with a hardcover book of the lyrics and music, of an imaginary musical revue. How weird! For that reason alone, it was worth taking a look at. Once you've popped the CD in and given it a listen, you'll find several reasons to be very happy you did!

Scott Bakula sings "Pig Island"! Meryl Streep sings "Nobody Understands Me"! I'm admittedly anti-pop-culture. If someone's famous and everyone in the world knows who they are, I often don't. So I don't know who half of the people on my CD are and... I don't care. What I care about is that the music is fun, the lyrics are amusing and the book is all right.

Yes, despite the 5 stars the book is just all right. A good number of the pages seem to exist for filler. The book is in two sections. The first, titled "Look as you listen" is fairly pointless. There's partial lyrics for each song and illustrations that are adorable. For little kids. Who aren't the target audience. I think. The second part, titled "Sing & play along" has complete lyrics and music. For me, the first section is pointless. BUT, because I like this imaginary musical sooo much, I'm not taking anything away for that. Besides, getting more than is strictly necessary is hardly the worst thing that's happened to me this week!

- AnnaLovesBooks