Peter Tchaikovsky

Children's Literature

Large type, easy vocabulary and an interesting story on pages filled with illustrations will make this book attractive to new readers. Many of the illustrations are famous paintings or photos of the period, including dancers in some of Tchaikovsky's ballets. Mike Venezia has also added many of his own cartoon drawings with silly comments in bubbles. The cartoons and the jokes may keep young readers turning the pages although they seem to cheapen the book and give it a garish look. The text offers plenty for children to identify with or think about without the cartoons. We learn that Peter Tchaikovsky's parents wanted him to be a lawyer, not a musician, and that his music teachers were often critical of his work. We learn that "Peter had feelings about things that most people didn't even think about. He was able to put those feelings into his music." We learn that he discovered a new instrument in Paris and immediately wrote music for the celesta in the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker Suite. This slim volume is one of a series on the world's great composers which has been reviewed by expert consultants in composition and musicology. 2005 (orig. 1994)?, Children's Press, Ages 6 to 10.
—Karen Leggett

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4In these two cheerful books, Venezia takes the same approach he used in ``Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists'' series (Childrens). The material is conveyed in an upbeat, if slightly irreverent, manner, allowing children to see the composers as real people. Black-and-white and full-color photographs and period art reproductions appear throughout, in addition to numerous colorful cartoons. The purpose may be to parallel the fine art and music of each book's time period, but the author does not expound on this concept. These slim volumes are more visually appealing than either Barbara Mitchell's America, I Hear You (Carolrhoda, 1987) or Ann Rachlin's Tchaikovsky (Barron's, 1993), but they contain much less information.Robin Works Davis, Hurst Public Library, TX