Ozzy is a boisterous brown-skinned girl who loves attention. She also loves her music teacher, Ms. Bomba, who always makes learning fun. When all the kids in her music class are assigned instruments (which they all can miraculously play), she chooses the drums because she knows they are the loudest and most likely to get her noticed in the orchestra. But she is disappointed to learn that she is just expected to keep the beat so that all the other instruments will stay in sync. Bo-o-o-ring! Reluctantly, she does as she’s told, and she does so well, Ms. Bomba gives her a second instrument to play—the equally boring triangle. When the orchestra is part of the school program and the otherwise outgoing Ozzy first sees the big audience, she is frozen in fear and can’t play a single beat. Consequently, the orchestra is off beat until Ms. Bomba helps Ozzy stay focused by rhythmically tapping her shoe. There’s a lot of humor in this story about a young cat-ear-wearing extrovert. The cartoon-style ink-and-watercolor illustrations show the classroom dynamics at play among a diverse group of students who have an especially beloved and creative teacher. (Ages 4-7)

A funny and charming picture book about a girl who loves to be the center of attention, from the author of A Normal Pig.

Ozzy loves attention. And the person she wants it from most of all is her music teacher, Ms. Bomba.

So when it's time to choose an instrument for the school recital, Ozzy picks the biggest, loudest, most attention-grabbing one of all: the DRUMS!

It's hard to stay on beat, though, when all you want to do is stand out. But getting in tune with her classmates--with a little help from her favorite teacher--just might turn out to be even better than a solo in the spotlight.