The Mozart Season [Paperback]

Virginia Euwer Wolff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2000

Allegra Shapiro decides to enter a prestigious competition for young musicians, but ends up spending the summer doing more than practicing the violin -- she comes to terms with difficult issues and learns important lessons about her family and herself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the beginning of summer, 12-year-old Allegra Leah Shapiro finds out that she has been selected as a finalist in a local violin competition. She spends the summer practicing Mozart's fourth violin concerto, preparing for the competition and sorting through her conflicting feelings about wanting to be herself and wanting to please her parents and grandmother. The Mozart Season is long on rumination and short on action, as Allegra wrestles with everything from what it takes to be a musician to what it means to be half Jewish and half Gentile to the exact nature of her connection with her grandmother, murdered in a concentration camp during World War II. Unfortunately, Wolff's constant repetition of themes is hardly hypnotic, as was probably intended, but simply mind numbing. However, Wolff's slightly flawed work contains some redeeming qualities--it is a pleasure to have a novel of ideas for young adults that describes the delicate dance between honoring traditions of the past and being your own person in the present. Ages 11-13.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-8-- Allegra Leah Shapiro is happily making the transition from seventh-grade softball season to summertime when she can concentrate on her violin lessons. At their first session, her teacher informs her that she has been chosen as a finalist in a competition for young musicians, probably the youngest of those selected. Allegra, a gifted violinist, plays in a youth orchestra in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, but she is also a three-dimensional, real 12-year-old who wrangles good-naturedly with her older brother, chafes at her parents' restrictions on late-night bike riding, is loyal to her friends, and is intensely curious about the world around her. As the summer progresses, several themes weave in and out of Allegra's consciousness and growth as she struggles with the Mozart concerto she will play in the competition. A strange dancing man who appears at outdoor concerts, the mysterious sadness surrounding her mother's friend Deirdre, and a very special gift from her grandmother in New York--all these find their way into Allegra's awareness and eventually into her own interpretation of the concerto. With a clear, fresh voice that never falters, Wolff gives readers a delightful heroine, a fully realized setting, and a slowly building tension that reaches a stunning climax at the competition. Like Patricia MacLachlan in The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt (1988) and Bruce Brooks in Midnight Hour Encores (1986, both HarperCollins), Wolff interweaves the themes of adolescence, music, and striving for excellence with great success. A book that will richly reward its readers. --Connie C. Rockman, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439163099
• ISBN-13: 978-0439163095
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,696,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent., July 19, 2002

By 

Smitha Prasadh "skp" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mozart Season (Paperback)

I picked up this book in middle school, just a year or two after starting to play the violin. (I believe the version I have is out of print now; it's the beige cover with a painted portrait of Allegra playing the violin.) I'm several years into college now and still adore this book. It's not just aimed for a younger audience--it's a very well-written book that anybody, especially music-lovers and musicians (but most especially violinists and string players), can enjoy and get something out of. Each time I reread it, it still manages to surprise me and make me smile--Wolff's writing is incredibly intricate and precise, and she brings Allegra's world to life--there's much more to this book than just music, but it's amazing how wonderfully it all ties together. I highly recommend this book to anybody who's interested--this is definitely one of my favorite books that I've come across.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, March 12, 2002

By 

Kate (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mozart Season (Paperback)

We picked The Mozart Season by Virginia Euwer Wolff at my mother-daughter book discussion group kind of blindly. Someone had heard good things about it, and we decided to read it. From the moment I read the first sentence, I knew I was going to love this book.
The Mozart Season tells the incredible story of Allegra Shapiro, a twelve-year-old violinist. Her mother plays violin in the Symphony, and her father is an accomplished cellist. Naturally, Allegra picks up her parents' love for music. And she is quite good. She is picked to play Mozart's fourth concerto for violin at the Bloch Competition for young violinists in Oregon. The main plot of the story revolves around Allegra's struggles to master the piece before the Labor Day competition.
But this book is so much more. It also tells of Deirdre, a wonderful but troubled singer who happens to be a friend of Mrs. Shapiro. It talks about Mr. Trouble, a mentally retarded man who is searching for his lost song. It tells of Allegra's struggles to cope with the horror of her great-grandmother's death. But most of all, The Mozart Season tells about Allegra. Allegra's triumphs, Allegra's failures. Allegra's laughs and her tears. And Allegra is one of the most inspiring people I have ever read about.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PLeAse rEaD mY ReVIeW, November 26, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (. . . yay! California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mozart Season (Point) (Paperback)

Uh-huh . . . I don't CARE what anyone else says about this book. This is a book that belongs on your bookshelf. Actually, it shouldn't even be on your bookshelf. It should be by your bed (or where ever you keep books that you read all the time) and not sit in one place long enough to gather dust. I mean it. IT IS NOT BORING, unless you happen to be one of those blond cheerleaders (if so, you have my utmost and deepest sympathy) who is either illiterate or just can't comprehend such a concept as hard work and hard thinking. The Mozart Season is not only funny . . . it's real, smart, and um . . . soulfully staggering. It is definitely on my all-time-top-ten-books-list. You may not want to buy it just right now. Go to your library (you know, that building with all the shelves and shelves of books) and check it out. After you read it a few times, you may just happen to find some meaning in it. Try it . . . please. It is a good book, I promise.