Sebastian: A Book about Bach - Hardcover

Winter, Jeanette

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 015200629X ISBN 13: 9780152006297

Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books, 1999

Synopsis

A long time ago, a boy named Sebastian was born into a family of musicians. He heard music everywhere, especially in his own head, and he wrote down what he heard. Sebastian married, raised a family, and wrote more than a thousand pieces of music. He also created a little book of music especially for his wife, Anna Magdalena, so that in the evenings the whole family could make music together. Hundreds of years after his death, Bach’s music is heard and played all over the world. Many people think it is some of the most glorious music ever written. And today young students--like Bach’s own children--can learn to play the music from Anna Magdalena’s notebook.

About this title

About the Author

JEANETTE WINTER has written and illustrated many books for children, including MAMA, The Librarian of Basra, Calavera Abecedario: A Day of the Dead Alphabet Book, My Name Is Georgia, and Josefina. She lives in New York City.

From Booklist

Gr. 2^-4, younger for reading aloud. Like Winter's biography of Georgia O'Keeffe, My Name is Georgia (a Booklist Editors' Choice 1998), this simple picture-book biography of the master composer expresses the harmony of the artist's work as well as the intensity of his life. Winter begins in folktale style ("In the days of castles and kings"), with the musical gift being passed down through generations ("All the Bachs played music"); and the storytelling fits perfectly with her signature folk-art paintings. We see Sebastian's sadness when he is orphaned at age nine, and then his youthful joy in playing the organ; but the main focus is on his work as a composer, the music he hears in his head that comes to life all around him. Even in the happy family turmoil with his 20 children, even in the jail cell where he spends a month, even on his deathbed, Bach is still composing. Winter's spare poetic text is beautiful ("He heard one melody for the violin, one for the trumpet, one for the flute, and one for the oboe. Each instrument had its own voice. And when all the voices sounded at the same time, it was like good friends talking together"). In brilliant colors, with lots of blue and purple, the framed acrylic quiltlike paintings have depth and clear detail, showing the composer at work and individual instruments working together to make the waves of music that weave through everyday life and through space and time. A fine biography to use with children who play an instrument and those who love to listen. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 015200629X
• ISBN 13: 9780152006297
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40