Thursday, January 22, 2009

Mozart The Wonder Child Diane Stanley

Mozart: The Wonder Child: A Puppet Play in Three Acts by Diane Stanley - A class is on a school trip to the theatre to watch the Wonder Child in three acts. The Wonder Child covers Mozarts life from age three. I really enjoyed this biography, Stanley includes a lot of information while keeping it interesting. One thing the author did that I loved was the angel key. Stanley placed an eighth note next to something she thought needed explaining, like concerto and libretto. Then the reader simply has to find the angels holding the key with the answers. Since it's a play on a few pages you can glimpse the heads of the audience. The strings on the puppets are always visible. The illustrations are a fitting compliment to the text. They have a nice rich open feel to them. You can tell a lot of research was done to get the wardrobe, hair and furniture just right. Stanley includes a timeline at the end and explains all of Mozart's five names. This is a great introduction to Mozart and classical music for children.

A few of the things we learn
Italian is considered the language of opera
Piano is short for piano fore -it was a new instrument in Mozart's time.
Mozart wrote three of the most beloved operas of all time.


2 comments:

Lenore Appelhans said...

I love getting books like this for children. It's so nice to see them get excited about art and music.

Amy said...

Diane Stanley is one of my favorite children authors. She has a way of making biographies fun to read! I'll have to check this one out.