Book Descriptions
for The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman
From The United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY)
A young journalist’s interview with a world-famous violinist reveals his family’s secret story of World War II and the Holocaust and the power of music to transform and heal. Paolo Levi won’t perform Mozart because it was poisoned for him when he was forced to play it in a concentration camp. Many years later, though, it reunited his family. The subdued watercolors of beautiful Venice canals and dark death camps enrich this multilayered nar ration. Author was 2003–2005 British Children’s Laureate. mjw
Originally published by Walker Books Great Britain, in 2007.
Bridges to Understanding: Envisioning the World through Children's Books. © USBBY, 2011. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
A boy’s passion for music unlocks a painful secret — and draws his family together — in a multilayered tale by an outstanding author-illustrator pair.
Like any young boy, Paolo becomes obsessed with what he can’t have — in his case, a violin. Hidden away in his parents’ room, it beckons the boy to release the music inside it. The music leads Paolo to a family secret, a story of World War II that changed the course of his parents’ lives. But once the truth is told, the family is reunited in a way no one had thought possible. From Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman comes a story about sharing the joy of music from one generation to the next and about music’s power to transform and heal.
Like any young boy, Paolo becomes obsessed with what he can’t have — in his case, a violin. Hidden away in his parents’ room, it beckons the boy to release the music inside it. The music leads Paolo to a family secret, a story of World War II that changed the course of his parents’ lives. But once the truth is told, the family is reunited in a way no one had thought possible. From Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman comes a story about sharing the joy of music from one generation to the next and about music’s power to transform and heal.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.