The enchanted symphony / Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton ; illustrated by Elly MacKay.

Title :

The enchanted symphony

Author:

Format:

Books

Summary:

When a lively village is beset by a mysterious fog, the town turns dull and silent, until one day a boy's simple melody strikes a chord, reminding everyone of what matters most, even in the darkest of times.

Language:

English

Audience:

Ages 4 to 8 Abrams Books for Young Readers.

ISBN - ISSN:

9781419763199

1419763199

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cm

Subject:

Life -- Juvenile fiction.

Music -- Juvenile fiction.

Joy -- Juvenile fiction.

Villages -- Juvenile fiction.

First Title value, for Searching:

The enchanted symphony / Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton ; illustrated by Elly MacKay.

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Summary

The Enchanted Symphony is an inspiring picture book about the power of art, nature, and community from New York Times bestselling mother-daughter duo beloved Academy Award-winner Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton.

When a lively village is beset by a mysterious fog, the town turns dull and silent; melancholy neighbors stop visiting each other and even going outside. Until one day, when a boy's simple melody strikes a chord, reminding everyone of what matters most--even in the darkest of times.

Beautifully and colorfully illustrated by Elly MacKay, The Enchanted Symphony is a powerful, hopeful fairy tale celebrating life's simple pleasures that bring us together.

Author Notes

Julie Andrews was born in Walton-on-Thames, England, on October 1, 1935. She is a film and stage actress. She came to the United States at the age of 19 to star in The Boyfriend on Broadway. Some of her other stage performances include My Fair Lady, Camelot and Victor/Victoria. She has starred is numerous movies including The Sound of Music, Thoroughly Modern Millie, 10, Victor/Victoria, The Princess Diaries, and Shrek. She won an Oscar for Mary Poppins, her very first motion picture appearance. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Academy of Film and Television and in 2000 the title of Dame was bestowed upon her by Queen Elizabeth II for lifetime achievements in the arts and humanities.

She is the author or co-author of numerous children's books including Mandy, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, Dumpy the Dump Truck, Dumpy Saves Christmas, Little Bo: The Story of Bonnie Boadicea, Little Bo in France and The Very Fairy Princess Series. She also published an autobiography, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, in 2008.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Music drives away a depressive fog in this inventively illustrated fable. After the creative residents of an idyllic village lose touch with "their own simple pleasures," a purple mist covers the town, keeping everyone indoors. Young Piccolino and his orchestra maestro father nevertheless clean the opera house each week, and Piccolino soon discovers that playing music perks up the lobby palms. This leads the brown-skinned father and son to devise a plan to brighten the village's sickly plants--and, by extension, help cure the town's malaise. Though the plot feels a bit hazy at times, Andrews and Hamilton employ a gentle fairy tale lilt to explore art's effect on all kinds of life. McKay's dynamic illustrations, which portray individuals of varying skin tones, make up an engaging narrative of their own, layering lighted cut-outs before photographing to create deep shadows and a glowing effect. An author's note describes the story's inspiration in a Barcelona string quartet's performance during Covid lockdowns for a concert hall filled with plants. Ages 4--8. (Sept.)

Kirkus Review

Actor Andrews and her daughter Walton Hamilton pay tribute to the power of music. The inhabitants of a small village are happy with "simple pleasures" until they commercialize to attract tourists…whereupon a dismal purple mist creeps in and thickens to the point that people stop visiting or even going outside. Then one day little Piccolino, who is helping his father dust the deserted opera house, plinks out a tune on the piano…and notices that the palms in the lobby look fresher. The brown-skinned pair proceed to gather wilting houseplants from all over town, park them in the auditorium seats, and call the orchestra members in for a concert. The plants flourish, the fog lifts, and throngs of villagers are drawn out into the streets by the music to dance and sing. Everyone realizes that "if they remained faithful to all that matters most, nothing could darken their days again." In a closing note the authors state that they were inspired by an actual concert played in Barcelona in 2020 to an "audience" of plants--a piece of performance art more likely to stimulate discussion than this trite, sugary mess. The illustrations are one bright spot: MacKay places her gracefully posed, diverse figures in luminously hued scenes of narrow streets and neatly kept buildings perched on a steep hill and threaded with musical staves. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Sweet art, cloying storyline. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.