The town's children were bitten by the music bug one summer. Each dreamed of playing a marching band instrument, substituting a broom for a trombone or pencil for a piccolo until they can get the real deal. When they first get their instruments, the awful noise frightens trick-or-treaters on Halloween, but day after day they improve through practice, and soon the towns' people begin to take notice.

Our Marching Band isn't in the same league as Moss's Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin in illustration or text, but it's a joyful, cheery story with a swinging rhyme that young children should enjoy. (ages 3-6) ( )