A Certain Music

Description

A fairytale in the tradition of Hans Christian Andersen heart-warming and enchanting. It is 1823 and the child is a loner who spends her time hiding in the Vienna Woods until she spies an old man - a music maker. And so begins an odd friendship which develops through their mutual love of music. The man is composing a new work. It will break new ground. He fears it will be ridiculed and is aware that he is thought mad. He confides in the child, who sits for hours watching and listening as he revises and plays. She has a feeling for the music that he cannot fathom. And not only for the music, but for what he is. She knows his pain, his anger, his fear and also his gentleness. Together they give each other the courage to face their critics and dare to be different. A tale of a song written by a man who couldn't hear for a child people thought strange. Yet the song will live forever in the heart and mind of every child where there's nurtured a love of music.

Celeste Walters is the author of playscripts for children and adults, novels and picture story books for young readers, texts on developmental drama and the writing of eulogies, and three books of whimsical verse for all ages. She has also written five highly acclaimed novels for young adults. Anne Spudvilas is a multi-award-winning illustrator of children's books and an established portrait painter who also works as a courtroom artist for the Melbourne media.

"Writing in an understated manner, Walters lets readers draw their own inferences about the girl's challenges as well as her name, which is revealed in the end. Occasional ink drawings with gray washes will help readers visualize the period setting." --Booklist