From the Primary Library
Ginnette Cameron Gardner – Primary Teacher/Librarian
The NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge has been completed by 5 more students in the following order:
19th Micah Esra, Year 3
20th Gil Banna, Year 3
Saskia Esra, Year 2, Rebecca Salamon, Year 3 and Avalon Gold, Year 4 finished equal 21st
Mazal tov מזל טוב
Book review
The book reviewed this week is one I value and read and reread: The Mozart question by Michael Morpurgo
It is held in the Primary Library at JNF MOR in a red box collection that holds many works by this gifted storyteller who tells many moving tales of the past, whilst writing in a way suited to be accessible and understood by readers of all ages. It is only 103 pages long and is thoughtfully illustrated with Michael Foreman’s watercolors, skilfully “depicting not only the story’s dark, tragic heart, but also its redemptive message, conveyed in part through the sunbathed skylines of Venice on the book’s endpapers”. (Piehl, N, 2008).
A fitting note and image on the cover of this book give an inkling to what this story is about: “We fought back with our music. It was the only weapon we had”.
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.