Perhaps some of you might remember when a very famous violinist participated in a social study for the Washington Post? Joshua Bell, one of the best violinists in the world performed one of the hardest violin pieces ever in a DC transit system entryway for a day, and barely anyone stopped to listen, except a handful of people. Most of them were kids! This picture book is a retelling of that story.
A very short youtube clip can be seen HERE of Bell and his violin piece. Something fun to do after you read The Man With the Violin by Kathy Stinson and Dusan Petricic would be to listen to the piece and see how the illustrator interpreted the scratchy scales and melodramatic, flowing parts of the song. The illustrations caught my eye as I was browsing through this book at the library, and I didn't even know it was a true story until we read it in full.
I remember reading about this years ago in the news, and thought what a fun tribute to the sweet children who wanted to listen to this beautiful art coming from Bell's bow. The theme being that children, although can not articulately tell high art from play doh, they do know when art is inspiring them to keep looking, keep listening, or keep 'figuring'. This is a great title and one I think can be used well in the class or at home for exploring how art makes more art!
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