Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky (Famous Children)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In my mind, and to my way of thinking, this entire series written by Ann Rachlin and illustrated by Susan Hellard are one of the most overlooked, least known and yet one of the best series for the young ever published. This is truly a pity. The work being reviewed here and the many others in this series which are available should be on every school library shelf, if not on the book shelf of every child. Anyway...

Have you ever listen to Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker or any of the other ten operas, six symphonies or four concertos written by Tchaikovsky? I dare say you have. And what was the source? Who was this wonderful composer? Where did he come from and how did he develop? What were is father, mother, family and friends like as he grew up? Where did he find his early inspiration? Did he do well in school? Was he a good kid or a complete brat? What was it like to grow up in Russia during those days? Did he get along with his siblings? What were his mom and dad like?

These questions are answered and so many more in this wonderful little book which is in fact a biography written for children, about the boyhood of young Peter Tchaikovsky. It is filled with wonderful facts and show children that Peter was not that all different from them, despite the time and place being different. He may have lived in the past, in a different country far away, but kids are kids and that is something that has not changed for thousands of years. It is rather comforting for a little one to know this I feel

The author has done a wonderful job with the text and told a very smart story. One of the great strengths of this work, along with the other books in the series, is that it introduces the child to new words, things and life styles. Ask you five year old what a "player piano" is. Ask them what a `carriage' is, what a `governess' is, what a `Czar' is or was. Do you see what I mean? Children increase their vocabulary and expand their world by being exposed to such as this. Books such as this help the parent and teacher in this all important task. Lets face it...how many of you have sat your child down before bedtime and said, "hey kid, I need to talk you about Czars," or something to that effect? See what I mean?

The art in this little book is delightful and the many paintings go perfectly with the text.

This is an excellent work to expose the little ones to a bit of history, new words, different times, and of course the work of a pure genius. And I must say, that the kids will enjoy every word of it.

This work as been designated as appropriate fro ages 4-8 which I feel is just about right.

Brahms (Famous Children)
Mozart ((Famous Children Ser.))
Beethoven (Famous Children)
Leonardo da Vinci (Famous Children)
Bach ((Famous Children Ser.))
Handel (Famous Children Series)
Chopin (Famous Children)

Note: All of these books also come in a Spanish Edition.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

I was disappointed in this book. There was no plot and the story seemed to weave randomly around. It didn't talk about Tchaikovsky's talent as a composer hardly at all, just a couple mentions of music in his head. It also doesn't talk about when he started or how/why he began writing music. In this book he's studying to be a lawyer. The book was mostly about him going to boarding school and how upset he was to leave his family. I didn't really like it and it wasn't very engaging for my son either.