Tallulah Plays the Tuba

Tallulah Plays the Tuba is a story of a little girl wanting to quickly grow up. Tallulah has a dream. She wants to play the tuba more than anything. She has powerful lungs. She has muscles. She knows all the notes. However, she is small, and the tuba is not. Tallulah sets out on a mission to overcome this problem so that she can play the tuba. She tries all kinds of innovative ideas, and finally her last attempt works.

Tallulah Plays the Tuba reminds us of when we were young. While this is not a new story theme in picture books, many of us can relate. We had dreams and plans on how to reach these dreams even when adults told us we were too young to succeed. Children will also connect with this theme as they’re likely to have experienced an adult in their lives telling them they cannot do something until they grow up. As such, the theme is a great conversation starter for families reading this picture book together.

The outlined water-coloured illustrations are simple yet enhance the plot. Readers can very clearly see the plan that Tallulah has launched in order to be able to play the tuba. Tallulah is compared to various big objects, and readers can see that, with each plan, Tallulah grows a little bigger and a little closer to the size of the tuba. The emphasis on size brings out the relentless determination in Tallulah.