School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4 Caribbean sunlight shines through the pages of this picture book adventure. Sea green and blue color the illustrations, which strengthen and carry a good-natured but rambling tale in bedtime story tradition. Jolly Mon, a fisherman gifted with extraordinary singing talent, finds a magic guitar and accepts its instructions to share the happiness of his music with other islands. Jolly Mon is neither individual nor active enough to make readers care for him, even when he is menaced by fierce pirates led by One-Eyed Rosy. Jolly Mon is a passive protagonist: he is given a guitar and boat; he is rescued by a dolphin; he is chosen to be king. He earns nothing by his own effort, and this lack of struggle weakens the story. The score and lyrics to Buffet's ballad Jolly Mon Sings summarize the narrative. Its five verses have an economy, grace, and excitement the longer narrative lacks. The book has strong, imaginative illustrations, acrylic paintings reproduced on fine paper, which elementary-school-age children, especially those from the Caribbean area, will enjoy. Anna Biagioni Hart, Sherwood Regional Lib . , Alexandria, Va. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A long picture story that marks the writing debut of a singer/songwriter and his eight-year-old daughter as well as being its illustrator's first book. The Jolly Mon, who lives in Bananaland in the Caribbean, sings so sweetly that he can sing fish out of the sea. One day, instead of a fish, he catches a guitar that springs into music at his touch; the king of Bananaland, hearing that the marvelous guitar prophesies that the Jolly Mon will make music ""in lands near and far,"" provides a boat in which the Jolly Mon travels until news of the king's death makes him homesick. Trying to go home, he is captured by pirates and thrown overboard, but saved by the dolphin that decorates the guitar--coming to life, it takes him back to Bananaland and a royal destiny. While the plot is undistinguished, the Jolly Mon is a stylish and sympathetic hero, pictured in Davis' splashily brilliant acrylics as a handsome, dreadlocked young man against the intense blues and greens of the tropical sea. His song, five verses plus music, is included. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Into the Napping House, based on Audrey and Don Wood's Napping House (Harcourt, 1988), offers preschoolers two versions of the tale. The "sleepy" side of the cassette provides background music to a reading of the book. The unidentified female narrator has a soft, gentle voice--perfect for encouraging drowsiness. Also included are two soothing, lullabylike songs. The "awake" side repeats the text of the book totally in song, followed by three original, rousing songs. Composers Carl and Jennifer Shaylen have done an admirable job of adapting a relatively unmusical text to song. Jolly Mon, a recording for first- through fifth-graders, is narrated by coauthors Jimmy and Savannah Jane Buffett. Michael Utley's original accompanying music is written in the Caribbean style. Oddly, the song printed in the book (Harcourt, 1984) is not used on the cassette. Both cassettes are superior choices for read-along, individual listening, or enrichment. Ages 3-5 and 6-10. --Cynthia Alexa