Monday, October 19, 2015

Ketzel, The Cat Who Composed (2015)

Ketzel, The Cat Who Composed. Leslea Newman. Illustrated by Amy June Bates. 2015. Candlewick. 40 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Love cats? Love music? Love sweet stories of animal rescue? If you do, then how could you possibly resist picking up a copy of Leslea Newman's Ketzel, The Cat Who Composed. Just spend a few seconds looking at the oh-so-precious cover. Don't you need to read the book now?!

Ketzel, The Cat Who Composed is a picture book based on a true story. The story is of Moshe Cotel and his cat, Ketzel, whom he found on the street one day. The two lived well together, quite a good pair, all things considered. One day when Moshe's inspiration was lacking, Ketzel, stepped in and composed music instead. Moshe was struggling with a contest entry: the challenge to write a piece less than a minute in length. A good piece of music. Moshe had no difficulty composing longer pieces, but, each attempt always ended up being too long. But Ketzel's stroll down the piano on her four paws was something SPECIAL to Moshe's ears. And the judges thought so too, though, her piece didn't win the contest, it was worthy of honor and attention. And it did go on to be performed for the public and later recorded on CD. And Ketzel did receive a royalty check :)

I really enjoyed this one. And I loved, loved, loved the illustrations by Amy June Bates.

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 10 out of 10

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

No comments: