Reviews for Passing the music down (J/Book)
Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
As Sullivan explains in an excellent note, musician Jake Krack was only nine when he traveled to hear noted fiddler Melvin Wine, then eighty-six. Inspired by that friendship, Sullivan depicts just such an old man and gifted boy. The story is told in the lyrical, laconic lilt of its Appalachian setting, also captured in gentle golden-tinged gouache and watercolor paintings. Websites. Bib. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Sullivan reverently celebrates a musical apprenticeship that spans generations in this poetic narrative based on a real-life relationship and punctuated by the titular phrase. A boy with a penchant for "old timey" music travels with his violin and his parents from Indiana to West Virginia to hear and see a legendary fiddler. As the family draws closer geographically to the boy's new mentor, the narrative gently moves back and forth from their initial meeting to the boy's family "putting down roots / in the next county over." The pair shares farm chores as well as hours of musical tutelage and accompaniment. Seasons pass, then years: At the elder's deathbed, the now-teenage youth murmurs, " 'I'll do just like I promised, / I'll teach folks all your tunes. / There's a part of you that / will always be around.' /Passing the music down." Root's sun-dappled watercolor-and-gouache illustrations lovingly depict rural West Virginia's farms and fairs along with the respectful interplay between a twosome knit together by a deep-seated commitment to musical folkways. Sullivan's notes, on Melvin Wine and Jake Krack and the tunes, round out a lovely, resonant offering.(resources) (Picture book. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
