Skip to main content

Itzhak: The Boy Who Loved the Violin

 


Written by: Tracy Newman
Illustrated by: Abigail Halpin
Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2020. Biography.

Before Itzhak Perlman became one of the world's best violinists, he was just a small boy who loved music. When he was four years-old he contracted Polio which left him crippled for life. Despite his many obstacles he never gave up on his love for the violin and music. He began studying the violin when he was five years-old. He would spend two to three hours a day practicing. During his practice he experimented with different bow techniques, bouncing his bow along the strings and seeing what kinds of sounds he could make plucking the strings. He would talk to the music and would imagine what the music would look like and what kind of personality it had. He became the music. By the age of 10 he was giving solo performances and when he was 13 he performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. After that performance "His life would never again be ordinary".

This is an inspiring story of a young man who was passionate about something he loved and who didn't let his disability keep him from sharing his passion with the world. This is a perfect introduction for anyone who wants to learn more about his life and rise to fame. The gorgeous illustrations and informative text along with the author's notes and timeline give readers a glimpse into his life. A perfect middle grade book for inspiring musicians.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Faker

Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...

Review: The Bletchley Riddle

  The Bletchley Riddle By Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin New York: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2024. Fiction. 392 pages. It's spring of 1940, Hitler has swept through most of Europe, and people believe England will be next. Half Polish-Jewish, half American Jakob has been recruited from Cambridge to Bletchley Park where they are working on deciphering the enigma machine. Jakob's sister Lizzie, meanwhile, is being forced to move from London to Cleveland to live with her grandmother after her mother disappeared in a 1939 attack in Poland. Lizzie manages to escape the keeper her grandmother sent for her to bring her to America and makes her way to Bletchley, where she's eventually given the task of delivering messages between departments. When secret messages begin appearing with Lizzie's belongings, she must decipher them to find the truth about her mother's past and location, while keeping the secrets away from the MI5 agent that seems a little t...

Dragon Run

Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews Scholastic, 2013.  336 pgs.  Fantasy      Al Pilgrommor is excited for Testing Day, when he will receive his rank, a tattooed number on the back of his neck, and a path forward to his future occupation and life.  He feels confident because his parents were fours on a scale of seven, but he is worried for his friend Wisp who doesn't have much of a chance of scoring above a two at best. But when Al is scored a zero, he not only has no prospects, he may lose his life as the dreaded Cullers are unleashed to kill him and his family to purify the land's bloodlines.  Al's world is ruled by dragons--the lords and supposed creators of humankind--so he thinks that even if he survives, he will have to make his living as a beggar or thief. But when Al sticks up for his Earther friend in front of Magister Ludi, he is drawn into the struggle of a secret organization hoping to destroy the Cullers, and perhaps the dragons them...