Celebrate Disability Awareness Month with Music and Art!

This July, I had the incredible pleasure of hearing author/illustrator Cece Bell speak about her creative process. Many of us know Cece from her graphic novel, El Deafo. Her newest picture book, Animal Albums from A to Z, is ideal for punsters, fans of Sandra Boynton, animal lovers, musicians, artists, those who love collage, hipsters who dig vinyl, alliteration aficionados, silly pants-es, wiggle worms, and all the cool kids.

Every bit of art in the book is handmade and is lovingly layered in ways that make my fingers itch for paper, scissors, and glue. From Arnie Dillow's "Accordion Americana" album, featuring the hit song, "My Aromatic Armpit Is Astonishing to All" (lyrics included!) to "Zigzag Zinnia", the album by the Zydeco Zebras, featuring "You Snooze, You Ooze", the collage album cover art is a feast for the eyes. Animal fans will love seeing rock stars like quokkas and platypuses get their time to shine alongside fan favorites like hedgehogs and yaks. Music lovers will love the wide array of styles, from the familiar disco and hiphop to klezmer and Western swing. Every letter features a song with fantastically silly lyrics and the QR code in the front of the book lets you listen to the songs! It's so fun!

Cece talked about how being deaf doesn't stop her from enjoying music. She said that she enjoys rhythms and vibrations and that music is for everyone. So celebrate Disability Awareness Month by sharing this glorious book. Listen to the music, pore over the pictures, twist your tongue as you sing along with the silly lyrics, recycle old scraps of paper to make cool collages, and create your own alliterative songs, maybe an ode to how swiftly summer is slipping away.