TOP TEN
The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket and Carson Ellis, ill. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.
ISBN: 9780061236273
Media: Pen and ink with watercolor
Q5/P5
A composer is found dead and a comical inspector questions the instruments; the story presents the different sections of an orchestra and what effect each segment has in the performance.
REPETITION: The “Inspector” character in the story repeats phrases that builds the suspense in his interrogation: “I will find them if they are lurking in the strings. I will find them if they are lurking in the brass. I will find them if they are lurking in the percussion section. I will find them wherever they are lurking. I will find them!”
FBoggs 07/09
The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket; Carson Ellis, ill. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-06-123627-3
Cleverly introducing young readers to the various instruments of an orchestra and their individual “personalities,” the story surrounds one detectives attempt to discover precisely who or what “killed” the composer.
Medium: watercolor
Rating: 5Q/3P
Literary device utilized: personification
Example: “The Cellos and Basses sighed.”
Curricular connection: Music, upper elementary school
* TOP TEN PICK
submitted July 2009 by Josh Mitchell
The Composer Is Dead by Lemony Snicket & Carson Ellis, ill. New York: HarperCollins Children's Books, 2009.
In this hilarious tale by Lemony Snicket, the Inspector is called to investigate the death of the Composer and he proceeds to interrogate the various instruments in the orchestra.
- ISBN 978-0061236273
- Media: Pen and ink, watercolors
- Rating: 5Q/5P
- Literary Device: personification - The Inspector interrogates the various instruments and they speak their replies and exhibit human-like qualities. Example: "The Cellos and Basses sighed. The Cellos and Basses are often weary from dragging their large bodies around."
- Artwork: I have been a fan of Carson Ellis’ artwork on the album covers and booklets for her husband’s band The Decemberists. I believe this is her first children’s book and she is perfectly suited for it. Her style has an “old-timey” quality and her characters always seem to be dressed in an era other than the present day. While The Composer Is Dead is not set in a specific time period, the mock radio-mystery-drama style of writing lends itself nicely to the depictions of the pinstripe-suited Inspector and especially the two-spread “roll call” of dead composers.
DPower 7/30/09
The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket and Carson Ellis ill. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
ISBN: 9780061236273 ISBN: 0061236276 ISBN: 9780061236280 ISBN: 0061236284
The composer may be dead but who killed him? In the end all instruments in the orchestra admit to killing the composer’s music through bad interpretations, maybe they are all guilty.
Media: Pen and ink and wash.
5Q/5P
D. Guhl Summer 2009
Citation: The Composer Is Dead by Lemony Snicket and Nathaniel Stookey, ill. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
One of my Top 10 selections
ISBN: 978-0-06-123627-3
Annotation: The composer is dead and the inspector must question each section to find out who murdered him. Is it the violins, the conductor, or the flutes? Readers must figure out the guilty party.
Media: Pen and Ink with watercolor drawings
Personal Rating: 5Q/5P
Curricular Connections: This would be a good addition for a music class. It would be useful for learning the different parts of the orchestra, learning musical terms, and understanding the purpose of each section of the orchestra. There is a CD with music by Nathaniel Stookey from the San Francisco Orchestra and Lemony Snicket narrates. This is a delightful book that will engage all learners.
Grade Level or Age Range: Grades 5-8
By: Joanne Maher July 26th, 2009
TOP TEN
The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket and Carson Ellis ill. New York: Harpercollins, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-06-123628-0
Annotation: The composer is dead, and the murder must be solved! As the Inspector interrogates the orchestra you learn about the sections and instruments of the orchestra. Who did it? Listen along with the enclosed CD as you solve the murder and learn more about music and the orchestra.
Media: Watercolor, pen/ink
Personification: The suspects of the “murder” are the instruments and sections of the orchestra, all personified with human characteristics and responses fitting their instrumental characteristics.
Sophisticated Language: The use of sophisticated language runs throughout the book and the accompanying CD which includes additional adlibs, “Composer is a word which here means a person who sits in a room, muttering and humming and figuring out what notes the orchestra is going to play. This is called composing. But that night, the Composer was not muttering. He was not humming. He was not moving, or even breathing. This is what is called decomposing.” (And the illustration is a close-up of a fly). And that’s just on the first page!
Curricular Connections: Grades5+ Music appreciation
Rating: 5Q/5P
RAC 7.26.09
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