What Charlie Heard [Hardcover]

Mordicai Gerstein (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

The extraordinary story of the composer Charles Ives.

"Sometimes little Charlie lay in his crib just listening. He heard
his mother’s long dress as she moved around his room. He heard big clocks and little clocks. He heard wagons and horse hooves. He heard dogs and crickets and the church bell next door."

Charlie listened all through his boyhood, and as he grew into a man, he found he wanted to re-create in music the sounds that he heard every day. But others couldn’t hear what Charlie heard. They didn’t hear it as music – only as noise. In this daring and original book, Mordicai Gerstein graphically translates the audible into the visible – filling his pictures with noise – to tell the story of Charles Ives (1874–1954), a great musical innovator who let neither criticism nor public scorn keep him from composing music that expressed all that he heard in the world. He was finally recognized with a Pulitzer Prize in 1947.

 

What Charlie Heard is a 2003 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

HProfiling American composer Charles Ives, Gerstein (The Wild Boy) plies an artistic style as densely and consciously layered as one of Ives's compositions. The illustrations provide an instant visual connection to the music, which attempts to encompass the sounds of everyday life: Gerstein overlays his spry pen-and-wash artwork with multiple clusters of sound-effect words (e.g., a series of tweety tweets surrounds a caged bird, big red clangs surround toddler Charlie as he bangs on a metal pan). "Charles Ives was born with his ears wide open," Gerstein begins, detailing the kinds of sounds "Charlie" might have heard as a child: included are Charlie's music teacher father's trumpet, the swish of his mother's long dress and "dogs and crickets and the church bells next door," sounds that would later be woven into Ives's music. He tells of Charlie's high school efforts as a composer and how, later, Charlie composed music on the train as he commuted to his insurance job. Gerstein also describes the music's chilly reception: "Most people didn't know how to listen to it. Some thought it was a joke. Others just heard noise and got angry." The book concludes on a triumphant note: not only does Ives finally win acclaim, but he plans to write a Universe Symphony: "Wouldn't that be a glorious noise!" Gerstein creates a rousing visual cacophony that echoes Ives's compositions in this inspired picture-book biography. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grades 3-6--A prominent 20th-century American composer is brought to life through this biography in picture-book form. Young Charlie always listened to the sounds around him and tried to re-create them as he started writing music, whether it was a cheering crowd or a brass band parading through the town on the Fourth of July. However, his work wasn't taken seriously until late in his life when it was accepted as a new form of music called Art Music. The cleverly drafted illustrations show how the many sounds combined in Charlie's head to form one musical idea. Sounds in different colored typeface, from ducks quacking, fire engines clanging, and trumpets "tatatating," appear over the energetic art, and readers can almost hear the cacophony of life. In one of the most memorable scenes, two marching bands, one colored in blue and the other in yellow, move toward each other playing different music with the myriad sounds combining in a rainbow of colors above their heads. The local residents can be seen in the background with their hands over their ears. Older children, especially those with some musical training, will come away with a good understanding of Ives and his work. This is an excellent purchase for libraries looking to develop their music collections on a subject about which little has been published.
Lisa Mulvenna, Clinton-Macomb Public Library, Clinton Township, MI
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (March 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374382921
• ISBN-13: 978-0374382926
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 10.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #831,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen...Music is Everywhere....., April 28, 2002

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Charlie Heard (Hardcover)

"Charles Ives was born with his ears wide open. The very first sound he heard might have been his father's trumpet announcing his birth to the town of Danbury, Connecticut." During his life, no matter where he was or what he was doing, Charlie heard the wonder of music in the everyday sounds around him. It could be the rustle of his mother's dress, the tick of a clock, the hooves of horses clip-clopping down the street, or the ice cream man's bell. Charlie heard music in a bat hitting a baseball, the rumble of thunder, the applause and cheers of a crowd, and a train's bell and whistle. As he got older, Charlie wrote "music about things he'd heard or seen, or feelings he had. But sometimes it was just to hear how different notes would sound together." Charlie grew up, graduated from college, got married, and started a successful insurance company. But he never stopped writing his music. "It was a new kind of music. It didn't have to be pretty, it had to be true to his feelings... But most people didn't know how to listen to it. Some thought it was a joke. Others just heard noise and got angry." Finally, when Charles Ives was very old, musicians began to play and perform his music, and people began to hear what Charlie heard. "Maybe, if you open your ears like Charlie, you can hear the beautiful, funny, sad, joyous, amazing music he heard..." Mordecai Gerstein has written a spectacular introductory biography that really captures the essence of Charles Ives and his music. His simple, straightforward text is both engaging and informative. But it's Mr Gerstein's creative and inventive artwork that really makes this book stand out and sparkle. His busy and detailed illustrations are packed with sound effects, swirling around the pages, in all shapes, sizes, and colors. The visual becomes the audible, and readers will begin to "hear" the magic of music in the world around them, just like Charlie. Perfect for youngsters 8-12, What Charlie Heard is a marvelous, evocative story about an extraordinary composer, the entire family can savor, share, and enjoy together. And once you've finished reading, it's time to listen to some of Charles Ives' music, so that you can hear what Charlie heard.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderfull Book, November 19, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: What Charlie Heard (Hardcover)

This a great book filled with lot's of noise but if you open your ears lide Charlie did you'll hear not only noise but music.
Charlie Ive's is a boy who hears everything as music wether it's the sirens of a firetruck driving by or the drip drop of rain on the ground. Charlie loved music and so did his father his father was a conducter when he would conduct a band Charlie would make noise. charlie grew up and wrote his own music. When charlie would play it some people got mad and said this is not music this is noise. Charlie would say if you open your ears you will hear what I hear.
I'm not going to spoil the rest of the book for you. But maybe if you open your ears you'll hear what Charlie heard, not noise, but music.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Introduction and Explanation, February 2, 2003

By 

K. A. Drugan (Ravenna, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Charlie Heard (Hardcover)

I once heard an organist describe Charles Ives "America" in this way--a small town on the Fourth of July, where every band wants to perform in the parade, so they all agree to play the one song they know: 'America.' But they all play it differently. Ives's arrangment depicts the infinite complexity of all the bands' variations. This book not only show where he might have gotten an inspiration for this piece, but for all his other music also.
However, I think the most eloquent illustration is what Charlie heard when he got the news that his father had died. The depiction of total silence is a stark and effective contrast to the cacaphony of the rest of the book. This book can be used to introduce Ives' music to those unfamiliar with it, to explain it to those who don't understand it, or to increase the enjoyment of someone who already appreciates it.