Poetry from the 13th Chair Trombone Player

September 1, 2020
A book of rhyming poetry for concert and marching band nerds. This illustrated collection presents a lighthearted love of all things band--from jokes about different instruments (arrogant trumpet players come up several times and there's a saxophonist who has four extra fingers) to silly rhymes. An introduction titled "Stereotypes" explains how stereotypes can be harmful and concludes that "we can choose to let them shape us, or we can choose to write a silly poem book about them and laugh it off." However, this push back against stereotypes, such as that band nerds are awkward and undatable, would all play better if so many poems didn't fall flat. Additionally, unkind comments about people's appearances (including pictures that caricature someone with an overbite and a woman whose too-tight top pops open) and the reliance on gender norms (the band director is always depicted as a man) strike a wrong note. A longer poem about a group of boys and their male band director on a trip who spy on strangers being intimate in a hot tub--"we all remember 'hot tub' night / As the night we all grew up"--feels out of place for the mostly child-friendly tone of the collection. The black-and-white line illustrations add context and additional humor to the poems. Most characters appear White, but there is some ethnic diversity throughout. A reasonably amusing gift for band students but not one they'll want to revisit. (Poetry. 13-18)

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