The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket and Carson Ellis

Snicket, Lemony – author, Carson Ellis - illustrator, and Nathaniel Stookey -. music The composer is dead. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. ISBN: 978-0061236273

Author website: http://www.lemonysnicket.com/

Ilustrator website: http://carsonellis.com/

Media: Oil paints and ink

Genre: juvenile picture book, music

Annotation

The composer is decomposing and an investigator is called in to investigate in this whodunit of the music world. In this perplexing murder mystery, everyone seems to have a motive, an alibi, and everyone is a musical instrument.

My thoughts

Everyone loves Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Many have grown up on it without really questioning the appropriateness of the classic because it is a classic. Well, this is a witty “Peter and the Wolf” for the 21^st century. It is contains the same lessons of the instruments and parts of an orchestra but without the gun-toting toddler out to shoot an instinct driven wolf. Now, don’t get me wrong, Peter the Wolf still is a classic. This performance/book/disc, however, can join it as another unique classic in this genre of music picture books. It certainly is a classic and is a humorous mystery that teaches different instruments.

Memorable quotes:

“Everyone forgets about us,” said the Violas bitterly. “We play the notes in the chords that nobody cares about. We play crucial countermelodies nobody hears.”

“We were doing bird imitations,” said the flutes, the shiniest and highest pitched of the woodwinds. It seems like that’s all we ever do.”

“Of course,” he said, “the Conductor! You’ve been murdering composers for years! In fact, wherever there’s a conductor, you’re sure to find a dead composer!” Snicket points out. "Beethoven — dead! Bach — dead! ... Schubert — unfinished, but dead!"

Curricular connections

Music (kindergarten and up) for teaching different instruments.

Reading level/ Interest Age

K and up/ Age 5 and up

Reviews

"It's funny, buoyant and engaging, and like Snicket's brilliant "Series of Unfortunate Events," it trusts children's taste for the sanguinary far further than many timorous parents and children's authors are inclined to."— SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (March 22, 2009)

"You'd be hard pressed to find a sym-phunnier crime story than this."— TIME MAGAZINE