Melody Mooner Takes Lessons

Melody Mooner is finally old enough to take lessons but what should she try? 


Her brother Mortimer takes her to judo. Her father sends her down a mountain on skis. Grandmother Mooner pays for ballet lessons. Everyone has a good idea but Melody has trouble deciding what she really wants to learn.


Throughout the course of a year, Melody tries something different every month. Skating in January. Gymnastics in April. Soccer in June. But each one inspires the same response: “I don’t think so…”


Finally in September, Melody attends a music recital and falls in love with the tuba. After lots of practice, she finds happiness in December with the Schnitzelvile Marching Band.


“Thank you for letting me try so many different things,” she tells her family after her first parade. “At last, I found the tuba.”


Melody’s indecision and comical sports mishaps provide a perfect vehicle to introduce young readers to the 12 months of the calendar year — and to the range of activities that children may try before connecting with their passion.


The pictures offer plenty to talk and laugh about for both readers and non-readers as “I don’t think so…” becomes a refrain for readers of all ages.


Author Frank B. Edwards’ text is playful and light; John Bianchi’s illustrations are cleverly funny. It’s a wonderful combination that has entertained young readers, parents and teachers in all 40 books the duo have created. (Their Mooner series has sold half a million copies in North America.)


This multi-touch edition has no distracting sounds or animation  — it’s an ebook meant to be read aloud — but the story is followed by a light-hearted multiple-choice quiz and a photographic slide show of some Mooner-like situations the author experienced as a kid.


Accelerated Reader supported. 

ATOS book level: 3.1

Interest level: lower grades

AR Points: .5

Rating: 3.5/4.0

Word count: 332