Having addressed the subject of homonyms in his The Bat Can Bat: A Book of True Homonyms, and of homophones in Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones , author/artist Gene Barretta turns to homographs in this entertaining and educational picture-book. Here, in the story of the musical festival known as Zoola Palooza, he explores words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings and are pronounced differently.

Originally published in 2011 as Zoola Palooza: A Book of Homographs, and then republished this year (2018) as The Bass Plays the Bass and Other Homographs, this title is quite a bit of fun. I confess, prior to picking it up, I actually hadn't heard of homographs, although I was familiar with homonyms (words that are spelled and pronounced the same way, but mean different things) and homophones (words pronounced the same way, but spelled differently, and with different meanings). As always, picture-books expand upon my imperfect education! Recommended to young word-lovers, or to anyone looking for children's stories that introduce young people to this concept. ( )

All the animals come together for the the big concert. Some animals are just fans while other are big rock and roll starts. The seagulls fly over head while the preform but everyone has to be careful that they don't drop any presents on their heads. Some bands have huge fan clubs like the dear dear band. So if you ever wondered what happened at the zoo when we aren't looking now you know. ( )

A lively, lighthearted way to learn about language. ( )

Gene Barretta, of Dear Deer fame, has done it again, creating an engaging if off-the-wall story about language. This time he tackles distinguishing among homophones, homonyms, and homographs. "Billy the striped BASS opened the shoe wearing a big striped BOW tie. He took a gracious BOW from the top of his BASS fiddle." Just plain fun. ( )