The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Barry Blitt (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5–This offbeat picture book blends facts with bits of quirky, occasionally amusing speculation. Beginning with the composer's birth in 1770 (the wild-haired infant cries to the tempo of his famed Fifth Symphony–Wah Wah Wah Wah), Winter reveals that the adult Beethoven lived in 39 different apartments in and around Vienna. If readers wonder why he relocated so often, the tongue-in-cheek text cites such reasons as forgetting to pay rent, the hideous stinky smell from a nearby cheese shop, and noise complaints from other residents. Beethoven brings his five legless pianos to each new abode, a constant headache for his movers, who always find the most roundabout and preposterously difficult way of transporting the instruments from place to place. Silly examples of evidence (e.g., we know that Beethoven played his pianos loudly because of the Hundreds of cotton balls with traces of dried earwax found in neighbors' homes) are mixed with nuggets of truth (the maestro's increasing deafness). The pen-and-ink and watercolor cartoon illustrations depict the frazzled-looking composer and play up the text's humor. Unfortunately, the joke begins to wear thin, and the abrupt, anticlimactic conclusion may disappoint readers who manage to stick with the book until the end. There is not much here to capture the interest of those unfamiliar with Beethoven's life and work. While young classical music buffs might enjoy this banal tale, it won't have much to say to most children.–Joy Fleishhacker,School Library Journal
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. Winter first states the basic facts: Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Germany, owned five legless pianos, and moved 39 times. From there, "things get fuzzier" about the life of the wild musical genius. Why did he move? Did his tormented neighbors drive him out because of the noise? Did they really write him a note telling him to "Shut . . . up"? It's not clear who the audience is for this mock picture-book biography; Winter's wry send-up of scholars' pretentious attempts to document the "facts" about the situation is strictly for adults. But Blitt, who illustrated Geoffrey Kloske's Once Upon a Time, the End (2005), uses his line-and-watercolor cartoons to extend the great parody of the tormented-genius stereotype, and the picture-book crowd will surely relish the humor of the famous, noisy neighbor and the furniture movers schlepping all those pianos. A good companion to Barbara Nichol's Beethoven Lives Upstairs (1994). Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Schwartz & Wade (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375836020
• ISBN-13: 978-0375836022
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #270,716 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo!, July 9, 2007

By	Camille "at the BookMoot!" (Katy, TX) - See all my reviews

This book begins with a musical score in Beethoven's own hand. The end papers are an actual photograph of Beethoven's working manuscript for the Grosse Fuge in B flat major, Op. 134.

Jonah Winter recounts the story of Beethoven's pianos and the thirty-nine apartments where he lived in Vienna. So often children's "non-fiction" blurs the line between fact and speculation. Not so in this book. Winter clearly identifies what is fact and what is conjecture and does so with great humor.

Diaries, eviction notices, physical evidence and piano movers' notes are used as a basis for the story he tells. Why did Ludwig change apartments so frequently? Well, there is some evidence to suggest the neighbors complained. As Beethoven moves from place to place, Winter chronicles the music that was composed there. An author's note at the end gives additional information about his deafness and the amazing fact that he composed his magnificent Ninth Symphony after he had completely lost his hearing.

Barry Blitt's illustrations lift the story to a new level. We first see Beethoven as a baby crying in Gothic letters, "wha wha wha WHA." He accurately and humorously depicts the difficulties and incredible logistics involved in moving pianos to the new apartments, over rooftops, through windows and through walls. The composer's effect on his neighbors is depicted in a cross-section where we see the neighbors living above, below and next door to him reacting to the noise coming from his apartment in the middle. Babies cry, dogs bark and people pound on the floor, ceiling and walls as Beethoven plays.

This book is a must have for music teachers, piano teachers and students of music. What a treat!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 39 Facts of Fun, November 9, 2006

By	Kelly Herold "Big A little a" (Smalltown, Midwest) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven" is one clever picture book. Jonah Winter structures the story in such a way that you only get the joke at the end. Barry Blitt's illustrations are drop-dead funny, with a cranky Beethoven juxtaposed with beautiful Viennese cityscapes on each page. (As you can tell from the cover illustration, Blitt's Beethoven looks just like the ubiquitous statuette of the great composer that glared down at you during weekly piano lessons.)

"The 39 Apartments of Ludwig von Beethoven" begins with three facts. The first of these is:

"FACT: Ludwig van Beethoven was born in the town of Bonn in the country of Germany in the year 1770."

We then learn that Beethoven composed on five legless pianos and "FACT: Ludwig van Beethoven lived in 39 different apartments--which is of course the subject of our story. (See book title.)"

Then the story begins. Beethoven's move from apartment to apartment is "documented" with complaints from neighbors, what he composed where, and details on how movers transported the five legless pianos. Here's a mover's lament:

"In the diary of one Anselm Schwartz, we find the following translated here into modern English: 'After this move, I'm out of here. That dude is WHACKED in the head! Yow...My back is, like, REALLY messed up!'"

After the first three FACTS of the book, there are only three to follow--two in the story of the moves: "FACT: It is very difficult to move a piano. FACT: It is even more difficult to move five pianos." These two FACTS are self-evident and are easily overlooked amongst the evidence of cotton balls with earwax found in neighbors' apartments.

It's only when you read the last FACT on the final page that you get the joke: "FACT: That's all we know of the 39 apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven." In other words, absolutely nothing--but a good story results nonetheless.

"The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven" is a stunner of a picture book and definitely makes my 2006 favorites list. Read it aloud to a group just for the experience of watching kids get the joke. "The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven" is highly recommended for children ages 5-10.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very different kind of story youngsters will relish., December 9, 2006

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

It's hard to easily categorize this: based on a little-known fact about Beethoven's habit of moving frequently, it offers up a fun story of how he not only moved, but moved all five of his pianos from place to place. The hilarious tale of and why he moved, followed by all those pianos, creates a very different kind of story youngsters will relish.