Title: The Song of Zong
Author: William A. Moses
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-6641-3227-6
Pages: 30
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
“Onomatopoeia” would be the best one-word description of this extremely clever and very original children’s book by the talented author and illustrator William A. Moses. The Song of Zong jumps right into the recurring prose “Everyone, sing along; sing the Song of Zong Where everything is right and nothing is ever wrong. Even the sun would sing along Here on the planet of Zong.” Then, to the astonishment of readers’ visual senses, the composite artwork of alien creatures, looking like some mix of praying- mantis and personified humans, all carry the theme of this story indelibly into the imaginations of all readers.
I cannot say enough good things about the fun, excitement, and sense of humor throughout this book, as it is ideal for the youngest of children still grasping the phonemes of the English language; learning what is a word and what is a playful
syllable or just a sound. The poetic text, for example, a drum beat going, “Bing Bing Bong.” Or a superhero Fling Flong climbing a tall building saying, “Fing Fing Fong, Fing Fing Fong, Here on the planet Zong.” Another time they once took a trip flying through Hong Kong, saying “Wing Wing Wong, Wing Wing Wong.” You get the idea.
Although shy in text, the illustrations more than make up by telling the story visually, thus expanding this into an epic adventure. The extraterrestrial creatures live in a credible world of futuristic cars, homes, and spacecraft, yet grounded to some Earthly customs, such as with the very human night-club scene; where I got a kick out of the drawing of the jazz band players, especially the pianist with his combed-back hair, and the busty female singer lounging on top of the grand piano. Seeing that drawing, in my opinion, is worth the price of admission into this book’s fantasy world.
The Song of Zong is a book which can be used to create a laughable, ferociously funny and creative bedtime story, engaging the children and parents into a cadence of beat, rhyme and craziness, resulting in exhilarating bedtime episodes. Lifelong memories of “singing” from this song book will morph this book into one of the iconic children’s books of our contemporary time. This will be a book which children will want to save – so they can read, or rather sing it to their kids decades from now, in the future, where who knows – maybe we’ll meet those green creatures with their eyes sticking out of their heads on some sort of antennas.
