Lulu's Ballalam-Bam-Bam Grooves! by Serina Adham

Title: Lulu’s Ballalam-Bam-Bam Grooves!
Author: Serina Adham (Illustrated by Ken Steel)
Published: August 2017 by Amazon
Genre: Children’s picture book
How I got the book: I was given a free digital copy by the author’s publicist in exchange for an honest review.

Summary:

There is nothing Lulu loves more than dancing by herself. With each new song, she practices the “Ballalam-Bam-Bam Grooves.” She slides her feet, claps her hands, and bumps her hips against a tree trunk.

There is just one problem. Lulu is a gorilla! When she stamps her feet and shakes the trees, she ends up disturbing all the other animals in her jungle home. Poor Squin Squirrel cannot even sip his nut tea without Lulu’s dancing rattling his tree home. Squin and the other animals try to tell Lulu that her dancing is disruptive, but they cannot get through to the gorilla.

Then, Lulu’s loud music and dancing ends up waking up the mighty king of the jungle. The angry lion Jhawfors then confronts Lulu with the problem. Will the animals be able to find a compromise?

This rhyming children’s tale imparts valuable lessons to young readers. Lulu does not want to stop doing what she loves, but she needs to understand that her actions affect others. Through Lulu, children will learn the importance of respect, compassion, and compromise.

My Review:

I used to be a preschool teacher, so I’m always more than happy to check out new children’s books. Since this is a 20-page picture book, this review will be shorter and slightly different than most of my reviews.

Lulu the gorilla is happy-go-lucky and loves to dance. She plays her music loud and dances like no one is watching. However, her dancing causes some ruckus in the jungle.

Her dancing disturbs Squin the squirrel during his tea time and her music is too loud for Lilly the owl and Fluer the skunk. Then, the king of the jungle, Jhawfors the lion, gets involved.

Before a fight breaks out, Lilly the owl comes up with a suggestion so that Lulu can dance without disturbing the entire jungle.

The moral of this story is that even though you may be doing something harmless and innocent, you still need to be aware of the others around you and be respectful of their space. This is the first picture book I’ve read with that kind of a lesson and I think it’s a good one to teach children and take to heart!

The characters of this story were cute and simple. I found their names to be creative and they flowed well with the rhythmic way the story is told.

Being about dancing, this is a rhythmic book with rhymes that have a poetic feel to it. The dancing is described in a way that should get kids up and move and possibly try to mimic Lulu’s dance moves.

Because of the rhymes, the story flowed well and read easily that will certainly keep kids’ attention. Even at the end of the book, a general question to the kids ask to make up some more dance moves for Lulu, which is another great interactive way to get the kids more involved in the story even though it’s over.

The illustrations were adorable as well. The backgrounds were very pretty and the colors all around were vivid and plentiful, which are certain to attract the wandering, curious eyes of a child.