Quite simply, this is a book of 25 scores with piano, vocal, and chords. Published in 2002 it contains all of the music and lyrics of note used in and outside the series to that date. The book is divided into three sections: Theme songs (starting with Danny Elfman's "Theme from 'The Simpsons'"), Pop Songs (e.g., "Do the Bartman"), and Production Numbers (e.g., "Stop the Planet of the Apes Medley"). The art work is sparse and consists basically of full color pages at the beginning of each section. This is not a book of Simpsons visual art.

My only criticism is that anyone likely to acquire this (still REALLY cheap - $8 new and half that or less used) probably already knows all the words to the included songs. Still, you can't go wrong singing along with Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (typing this in from memory) from "Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?"

When I first arrived you were all such jerks,
but now I've come to love your quirks,
Maggie with her eyes so bright,
Marge with hair by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Lisa can philosophize;
Bart's adept at spinning lies,
Homer's a delightful fella,
sorry 'bout the salmonella!

(doh!) ( )