The Story Orchestra: Carnival of the Animals: Press the note to hear Saint-Saëns' music (Volume 5) (The Story Orchestra, 5)

Beautiful book that the whole family enjoys. After going through this book numerous times with our two-year-old, I feel inspired to listen to the original music. This is a genre of music that I’ve never been interested before, but suddenly after learning a little taste about it I’m eager to hear the whole symphony. What a wonderful way to introduce my children to appreciating music. I wish that somebody would have taught me when I was a child that music can tell a story

I like these story orchestra books overall. But I have to say that, the first one I got wasn’t working, the replacement was good. Books are very beautifully made, but several cons: 1. Very hard to press for the music 2. Very easy to tear by toddler readers. 3. The music sounds small if you open the book and lay it flat on table, have to lift the back cover a bit for better sound. Otherwise, good series.

One of my all time favorite music series and is great for music lovers of all ages. Beautifully illustrated, great for introducing your children to classical music (it plays music once you press the notes), and great story lines. Highly recommend. Some photos of the inside in comments.

We got this book for her 3rd birthday. She has all the others in the series and this is a lovely addition. She asks to have it read to her often. We enjoy all the books in this series and new ones continue to be added in years to come!

This is beautifully illustrated, and the sound is good, but the sound buttons are so hard to push that it makes for a less-than-enjoyable reading & listening experience. We have many other sound books, and none are like this. Quite disappointing.

I have purchased this and the other versions as gifts for my grandchildren and they LOVED them. Beautifully illustrated and the music is divine. My 4 year old grandson set aside his beloved soccer ball to sit messmerized by the pictures and the music.

A favorite book. Plays music along with the story. Sometimes the spot you push for the music on each pages is hard to make work. My 4 year old granddaughter loves this book at bed time. She will sit and turn the music on by herself.

Bought this for my little girl after purchasing the four seasons story orchestra. I wasn’t sure if it would be too boyish but it’s a great book- one we will keep for years to come. We love the music and the art of each page and the story too.

We have all of the other Story Orchestra books and were looking forward to this one, already being a fan of Carnival of the Animals. However, we all felt disappointed by the story in this one. I personally felt it was rushed, with not a strong storyline, and poorly edited. My eldest immediately picked up on the confusion regarding tortoises: they are depicted in one scene swimming in water, as turtles rather than tortoises which are land animals; they are later pictured and referred to as “turtles” in the finale; and on the inside of the back cover, the text rightly entitles the musical piece “tortoises”. Personally, I didn’t appreciate the ending that the boys lie to their mother; it could have been an opportunity for sharing their wonderful experience with their mum but instead the story encourages disconnect and deceit.

'Spectacularly amazing. Rich in so many dimensions from the music to the illustrations, from the words to the texture of the book. A sensory delight.'This is a totally stunning book from this wonderful series - The Story Orchestra. The illustrations make the music jump out of the page as the beautiful melody of each part of Carnival of the Animals is played alongside the story. I love the section at the back that explains a little about each piece. My daughter has loved these books since she was around 2 years old and now 4 it is so lovely to see her trying to consider which instrument is playing. She adored the flutes in the Aquarium. These are such good book for bedtime, but also wonderful for beginning classical music appreciation for children. Magical!

We are big fans of this series - a great concept, beautiful illustrations and fab musical interpretation at the back.However as other reviewers have also pointed out, the accompanying story is very thin, given the rich possibilities of music describing a Carnival of the Animals! Some of the audio extracts are so short it’s pointless. The book seems too short somehow for the money.But most perplexing to a three and six year old is why the great game of spotting the relevant instruments hiding on each page (piano keys in the jungle for the roar in ‘The Lion’ and skeletons playing xylophones in ‘Fossils’) seems to peter out in the middle, so it only works on five of the seven animal pages? ‘The Elephant’ is clearly celebrating the double bass (as referenced at the back) but instead the only pictured instrument is a trumpet ... All in all, very pretty to look at, especially the Fossil page, but a bit disappointing, as if the book was rushed into production or the artist and author weren’t talking to each other sufficiently.Buy ‘Four Seasons in one Day’ instead!

This is the latest book in the series of Musical Orchestra books and has Saint-Saens wonderful Carnival of the Animal Suite as it’s theme.2 brothers navigate their way through a magical world of the animals, including a museum of fossils and we hear the representative music along the way (10 clips, each 10 seconds long).I must confess I was most attracted to the wonderful illustrations in this book, and I know the music is magical (it is very recognisable as widely used, such as in Beauty and the Beast).The illustrations really are divine, such gorgeous colours and animals. We have loved them.We also liked have the composer and music detail at the end.The buttons are hard in the first half of the book to operate. This is because the buttons are all on the last page of the book and you are actually just pushing through the pages to operate the buttons. Even though the paper is quite thin, my children needed a little help initially but then got the hang of it. However, the advantage of this design is that at the end they have enjoyed being able to access all the buttons on one page and guess which animals the music is about which makes up for the button pushing earlier on.We have enjoyed this book and the children have loved the pictures and music. We shall definitely get some more in the series!

Beautiful vibrant and detailed illustrations, with music to compliment the story. There’s always something new when you read it.My son loves this book, and the four seasons one, which he’s had since he was three.It’s the kind of book that will last years. He’s six now and there’s absolutely loads of mileage left in this book as there is a deeper educational section at the back, explaining about the music, how it relates to the story, and some history on the composer.