Lulu's Piano Lesson
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Who wants to practice the piano? Certainly not Lulu. She'd rather listen to her swing squeak, the bell on her bike ring, or the apples thump as she climbs a tree. Even her shoes play a tip-tap tune as she runs on the sidewalk.
Before she knows it, it's Friday afternoon and time for her piano lesson. Lulu's heart sinks. She hasn't practiced all week. Luckily, Lulu's teacher knows how to inspire his small student. A musician herself, Arlene Alda played the clarinet in the Houston Symphony. She understands how one little girl's imagination and a wise teacher can help us all discover the music around us and the fun of expressing that music on the piano. Perfectly complemented by Lisa Desimini's delightful cut-paper collage and digital illustrations, Lulu's Piano Lesson is truly a memorable one.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
All week long, curly-headed Lulu keeps promising to practice the piano but never does. Walking to her piano teacher's house, she's filled with dread: "Lulu's stomach felt like it was on a roller coaster, rising and falling with each step she took," writes Alda, who previously collaborated with Desimini on Iris Has a Virus. But Lulu's tuxedo-wearing piano teacher, Mr. Sharp, is not only completely understanding ("What fun things did you do instead?"), he also shows her how practicing can be exhilarating by having her sing along as she plays "Old MacDonald," substituting the sounds of the past week's activities (the squeak of the swing set, the ring of a bicycle's bell) for the song's animal noises. Weighted down by the text's literalness, life lessons, and overworked conceits, Desimini's often dreamlike cut-paper illustrations struggle to give the narrative some vividness. But the text and pictures don't coalesce into much of a story, and Lulu, whose Orphan Annie 'do appears to be fashioned from a photo of real human hair, never rises above a narrative prop. Ages 4 7.
