Reynolds, Peter H. Playing from the Heart.

Reynolds, Peter H.  Playing from the Heart.     Candlewick Press  2016  unp.  $15.00  ISBN 978-0-7636-7892-0  all ages  Picture book  VG-BN    

Music connects the musician and the audience.  When Raj begins plunking away on the piano, the music flows from his heart to the keyboard.  His father is impressed and arranges for Raj to take music lessons. As Raj’s technical skills increase, his love of playing piano decreases.  When he graduates, Raj moves away and abandons music.  Then, many years later, when his father becomes very ill, Raj rediscovers the song that flows from his heart, when his father asks him to play music for him once more.

Reynolds’ evocative illustrations are the perfect complement to the bittersweet story.  Moving without being maudlin, this is a gentle story about the power of music to heal and to inspire.     

Summary: Raj learns the technical aspects of playing the piano, but when his father becomes ill and asks Raj to play for him, will Raj learn to play from the heart?

Music-Picture books                                   --Hilary Welliver

Newman, Leslea. Ketzel, The Cat Who Composed.

Newman, Leslea.  Ketzel, The Cat Who Composed.  Candlewick Press  2015  np  $16.99  ISBN 978-0-7636-6555-5  pre K-elem  Picture book  E

      Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed is based on the true story of Moshe Cotel’s pet cat.  Cotel, a composer, jotted down the notes his cat “played” on a piano and submitted the results to a music contest for short compositions.  The composition won, but Cotel was  not surprised.  He claimed that everything he heard, from bird song to construction work, created music in his ears.  The brief story is as charming as the picture book’s very expressive artwork.  Illustrator Amy June Bates created pictures that are the perfect complement to the story, demonstrating a gift for capturing the expressions of both man and feline.  Young listeners will demand to hear this tale repeated many times.

Summary: Share the story of Ketzel, a cat who composed a prize-winning musical composition.
           

Cats-Fiction, Musical composition-Fiction             --Hilary Welliver

Say, Allen. The Inker’s Shadow.

Say, Allen.  The Inker’s Shadow.    Scholastic Press  2015  70p  $19.99  ISBN 978-0-545-43776-9  all ages   Picture books  E-BN 

This companion book to Allen Say’s Drawing from Memory continues the story of Say’s life as an “autobiographical novel.”  At sixteen, he leaves Japan to go to America and becomes a student in a military academy run by one of his father’s American friends.  He is expelled for smoking a cigarette and soon talks his way into the local high school as a student.  There he finds wonderful teachers who mentor his talent and abilities.  This captivating book is written as a personal conversation with the reader, and each section of dialogue is highlighted by fascinating watercolors, pen-and-ink sketches, and photographs.  The writing is cohesive, well constructed, and compelling, and the descriptive narrative is filled with vitality and humor.    

Summary: This companion book to Allen Say’s Drawing from Memory continues the story of Say’s life as an “autobiographical novel.”    

Allen Say-Biography                                         --Susan Ogintz

Turnbull, Victoria. The Sea Tiger.

Turnbull, Victoria.  The Sea Tiger.  Candlewick Press 2015  np  $16.99  ISBN 978-0-7636-7986-6  pre K-elem  Fantasy     E     

Victoria Turnbull has written and illustrated a story about friendship and growing up that will resonate with readers, who will hear echoes of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree between the lines, and enjoy the dreamlike water-colored illustrations that depict a lasting friendship between a merchild and his favorite pet.  Sweetly evocative, pensive, and nostalgic, Turnbull’s picture book will hold great appeal for a wide-ranging audience.   

Summary: This picture book depicts the friendship between a merchild and his pet.

Picture books, Mermaids                               --Hilary Welliver

Hammill, Elizabeth. Over the Hills and Far Away.

Hammill, Elizabeth.  Over the Hills and Far Away.     Random/Candlewick Press  2014 160p  $21.99  ISBN 978-0-7636-7729-9  all ages  Fairy tales  E     

Fairy-tale nursery rhymes have a universality about them that comforts children regardless of their nationality.  Their rhythms, repetitions, and rhymes have a uniqueness that allows them to outlast the more current forms of oral communication.  In the author’s own words, you are invited “to travel on an adventure in language, image, and imagination.  Along the way, you will find new sounds, new sights, new ways with words, new horizons, and a new delight in poetry and art. Share and enjoy.”

This is beautifully compiled collection of unique rhymes that are artfully depicted by a wide variety of illustrators.  The collection touches on various nations around the world and is accompanied by illustrations that reflect the intrinsic nature of the culture.

An index, sources listing, and short biography of each artist is found at the back of the book.

Summary: “A treasury of nursery rhymes collected by Elizabeth Hammill and illustrated by more than seventy celebrated artists.”        

Picture books, Nursery rhymes                               --Linda McNeil