Saturday, November 15, 2008

The Mozart Question


Sometimes books make us cry. Michael Morpurgo’s “The Mozart Question” did that to me.
It’s the story of a famous violinist, Paolo Levi, who’s being interviewed by a young reporter for a newspaper story. The reporter, Lesley McInley, has been warned not to ask “the Mozart question.” But she doesn’t even know what the question is.
So when she talks to Paolo, she innocently asks him to tell how he got started playing the violin. Because she has kind eyes, and because Paolo was once told “all secrets are lies,” he decides to tell her the truth – the tragic yet beautiful story of how he became a violinist, and the origin of the battered old violin on top of the cupboard in his parents’ bedroom … and why Mozart’s music is off limits.
I can’t tell you the whole story without spoiling it for you. But this wonderful book is one of the best I’ve read all year. The illustrations by Michael Foreman are perfect. If you don’t mind getting a little choked up and sad, read this book!

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