James Rhodes (1) (1975–)

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, I'm afraid. I'm not the target audience, since I'm already a musicologist and familiar with the composers addressed. I've found that quite a few works intended to introduce classical music to a young audience go out of their way to use hip, cool language, flashy colors, and a "no, for real, these guys were the original rock stars" earnestness in an attempt to be convincing. I usually end up feeling a little uncomfortable when reading such works, and my guess is that the actual target audience might be more prone to rolling their eyes than to being enthusiastically convinced due only to the prose. Though it is of a higher level of writing than my kids' ages (2 and 4) would suggest, I plan to read some to them. My expectation is that if they are fascinated by it, I will be more enthusiastic than I am just by reading it on my own :)… (more)

An oversized, colorful, beautifully designed book written for kids to get them interested in classical music. The book focuses on seven of the greatest composers in history and also includes information on the make up of the orchestra, a timeline of classical music, and information on how to appreciate classical music.

I learned quite a bit from this book and really dug the design and illustrations. I highly recommend this book for children and their parents. You don't even need to make a mixtape of the music, as the author has done that for you and put it on his website.… (more)