For this month’s Music Book Review I am looking at a book in the FIRST DISCOVERY MUSIC series: Claude Debussy by Pierre Babin and illustrated by Charlotte Voake. This one introduces you to, yes you guessed it, the life and musical works of Composer Claude Debussy, a French Impressionist Composer who was writing music in the late 19th/early 20th Centuries. The book comes with an accompanying CD which is narrated by Michael Cantwell.
Blurb from the back of the book:
Did you know that, as a boy, CLAUDE Debussywanted to be a sailor? And that he was often in trouble at school and at the music college he went to in Paris because he didn’t like being told what to do?
Do you know how to make a glass sing or how to hear the sound of the sea in a teacup? Read about Debussy and listen to his music. You too could become a great musician?
What is this book about?
FIRST DISCOVERY MUSIC: Claude Debussy by Pierre Babin introduces you to the composer Claude Debussy. It tells you about his hopes and dreams when he was a boy, about his hobbies schooling and his time at music college and a little about his rather rebellious nature. The biographical information about Claude Debussy finishes, though, not long after he leaves the music college in Paris, saying about his later career just:
He will go on to write many works for piano, for chorus and for orchestra. Debussy will change the colour of music forever.
The book does have some description of some of Debussy’s pieces as well as some photographs of Debussy, which are rather nice to see in a children’s book. The illustrations are rather lovely and have a very French style to them, helping to conjure some of the French atmosphere of the book. I also like that there are some reproductions of Impressionist art in the book, setting the scene of the Impressionist period in history through art as well as music. And of course, there is the CD itself, giving you access to listen to works of Debussy’s that are mentioned in the text. I should also say that there is a glossary explaining some of the musical terms used in the book, as well as a track listing for the CD at the back of the book. I quite liked that there were some suggestions of things to try out during the book, like trying to make a glass produce a musical note – something that is not as easy as it sounds in the book, I can tell you from personal experience.
There are a couple of things I wasn’t so keen on in the book. The main one was that the biography suddenly stopped after Debussy’s education. There is a series of books LITTLE PEOPLE, BIG DREAMS, where the books in that series very much concentrates on the lives of the subjects as children and their hopes and dreams – sort of suggesting to the reader that these famous people are not so different to you. But if that was the aim here, it wasn’t as clear. I also couldn’t help but notice that the author used the past tense for the first 2 pages of the biography before switching to the present tense, which I didn’t like. I also found it a little jarring in the section towards the end of the book when talking about 2 of the pieces of music highlighted here, that some musical terms were explained to the reader while others were just glossed over.
Who is this book for?
This is a non-fiction book for children interested in music. The back of the book suggests that it is aimed at 7 – 10 year olds, but I am not sure that I fully agree with this. I think it is a little simplistic for the older end of that age bracket if I think about my 10 year old son and his friends. I think I would probably recommend it for ages 6-8. I shall caveat this by saying, as I always do when discussing what age child I think this book is for, that you know your children far better than anyone else. You know what they are interested in, and their reading ability and how much detail they like to go into on a particular subject.
Where to buy the book
I bought this book from Waterstones over the summer priced £16.95 and it will be available at many good book retailers. Checking on the day I write this review, the book is available on Amazon priced at £14.27 for a hardback copy, but do bear in mind that prices on Amazon can fluctuate depending on demand.
Would I recommend this book?
I thought this book was OK. l wasn’t overly keen on it, but it was OK. I mentioned above that I didn’t like the changes in tense in the book, and the fact that there were some musical terms explained but not others. If you were to ask me if I thought the book was worth the current asking price on Amazon or Waterstones, I would say, no I don’t think so, even bearing in mind the CD with the book. I was rather disappointed with it for the price I paid, and think there are much better Composer biographies for children available to buy. I would give this book probably only 2.5 stars out of 5.
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