Bremen town musicians are one of the best in town. An old donkey that is set to be sold soon decides to run away instead. He hopes to start over and goes on an adventure where he meets new friends. Donkey meets a dog, a cat and a rooster and soon they become the best of friends. All together, they all set off to join the Bremen Town Band. The bunch runs into different surprises along the way but make it there and become members of the Bremen Town Musicians. ( )

If you were a donkey which had grown old, couldn’t work any more, was being sold, and decided to run away, where would you go and what would you do? The particular donkey in this story still has a fine braying voice, so he sets off for the famous city of Bremen to sing with the town band. Along the way, he meets a dog, a cat, and a rooster who are in the same situation as he, so he invites them along. They can hee-haw, howl, meow, and crow together in the band. But when they need a place to spend the night and something to eat, what will they do? And will they ever make it to Bremen?
This well-known Brothers Grimm fairy tale is here retold and illustrated by Brian Wildsmith, who was raised in a small mining village in northern England where, he says, “Everything was gray. There wasn’t any color. It was all up to my imagination. I had to draw in my head.” Since then, he has illustrated more than 200 picture books, many of which he wrote himself. In 1962 his ABC was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal, Britain’s equivalent to the Caldecott Medal, and in 1971 The Owl and the Woodpecker was a runner up. The Brian Wildsmith Museum was established in 1994 at Izukogen, south of Tokyo, Japan. The Bremen Town Musicians is a book in which children will love both the humorous story and the luscious, eye-catching pictures. ( )

What happens when you get too old and useful, you head to Bremen to be a musician. That’s what a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster do. This book was so cute. It will delight and entertain even the youngest audience. The colors are so bright and fun in the illustrations that I can see them easily becoming decorations for a library or classroom setting. The book tells the story of finding your way when no one wants you. It made me a little sad to think that they were considered useless since they were old but then they wouldn’t have had an adventure. This is a great book to start a discussion on being a responsible pet owner and why being old doesn’t mean life is over. ( )