(2) PS Ghost Gustavo is terribly shy, a problem compounded by the fact that the other monster kids can't see him. His attempts to appear/appeal to the others--disguising himself as a lampshade, a surfboard, a sheet--are funny but hopeless; it's only when he throws a Day of the Dead party at the cemetery and reveals his passion for the violin that the other monsters come to see him as he really is. While the logic of the story won't stand up to much scrutiny, Gustavo is a sympathetic protagonist, and the illustrations are filled with appealing monsters and witty details.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2020

(3) K-3 In this sequel to The Bear and the Piano, Hugo, a fiddle-playing dog, leaves his best human friend, retired fiddle player Hector, to join the famous bear on a concert tour. The story of ambition, friendship, hurt, and reconciliation is illustrated with appropriately dramatic, emotion-filled paintings.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) 4-6 A middle-school project prompts violin prodigy Charlotte (known as Charlie) to research the great-aunt for whom she was named and who disappeared during the Holocaust; her persistent detective work leads to unexpected discoveries about her family. Sweet twelve-year-old Charlie's story provides an accessible entry point into the Holocaust and its connections to people living today, with a dash of hopefulness amid the difficult history.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(1) K-3 In Bliss's nearly wordless book, told mainly through panel illustrations, ordinary-looking Grace sneaks out of her dads' NYC apartment at night to creatively raise money to buy a companion for class guinea pig Gus. Deadpan Grace remains hilariously impassive, her little Mona Lisa–esque smile the only hint of her extraordinary measures. Cameo appearances and visual jokes fly fast and furious throughout Bliss's giddily gleeful tale.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(3) YA Dominique (Dom) has always wanted to be a modern dancer, but her mother's struggling laundry business doesn't provide a lot of options after high school. Ben studies violin at the prestigious Brighton Academy and is obsessed with perfection. Their worlds collide against the backdrop of NYC in a sweeping, classic-feeling romance that deals with privilege and the lies we instinctually tell ourselves and others.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(3) YA High-school senior Yvonne realizes that she has lost her passion for the violin and isn't good enough to attend a music conservatory after graduation. She struggles to forge a new path, finding an ally in street musician Omar and risking her relationship with current love interest Warren. It takes an unplanned pregnancy for Yvonne to decide who she wants to be. Colbert's characters are complex: equal parts endearing and infuriating.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku

(3) YA In Wintersong, Elisabeth (Liesl) miraculously escaped the Goblin King's underground realm alive. Now Liesl travels with her violinist brother to Vienna as his composer. Yet as a painful new distance opens between the siblings, so too does the veil between the Underground and the nineteenth-century world. Fluctuating between mania and melancholy (Liesl, per the author's note, has bipolar disorder), this historical fantasy overflows with beautiful and terrifying emotions.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(3) 1-3 Zayd Saleem, Chasing the Dream series. Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport. In these chapter books, pint-sized fourth grader Zayd Saleem chases his dream of playing basketball: making the team (Forward), winning a game (Point), and coping after an injury (Back). In upbeat, humorous, and engaging first-person narration, Zayd confronts challenges on the court and with his friends and Pakistani American family. Well-developed secondary characters, rich cultural content, and occasional black-and-white drawings round out the series. Review covers these Zayd Saleem, Chasing the Dream titles: Bounce Back, On Point, and Power Forward.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Jo Weaver. This slim, profusely illustrated book (first published in the UK) introduces a small group of Middle Eastern refugees adrift at sea in a small broken-down boat. Rami, a young man clutching a violin case, plays his instrument and shares a legend about its creation. Weaver's haunting art in a monochromatic palette of greenish-black perfectly complements the sad yet sometimes hopeful tale.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(4) YA Etta (a modern-day violin prodigy) and Nicholas (a former eighteenth-century slave), on separate, dangerous journeys through time, try to find a powerful astrolabe and each other. Meanwhile, a revelation about Etta's own backstory makes her question her loyalties. This duology conclusion should satisfy Passenger fans' curiosities, but the effort of keeping track of the many threads outweighs the excitement of the (long-deferred) romance.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) K-3 A captain aboard his ship has a gift for his wife at home: a duck egg. After a storm washes the egg overboard, it hatches. The duckling swims to the captain's likewise-adrift fiddle, leading to a roundabout rescue. This wondrous ode to the interconnectivity of it all boasts commanding mixed-media illustrations with weather-churning heavy brushstrokes of acrylic paint.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) 4-6 In their last summer before everything changes, Birdie and her best friends--star pitcher Ally and reluctant violinist Rose--investigate a decades-old murder mystery. Middleton displays the depths of preteen female friendships in the girls' dialogue and in Birdie's uncertainty about who she will be without her two best friends when they attend different middle schools. A bittersweet, empowering ode to growing up and embracing change.

Reviewer: Mariko Turk | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2018

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Dušan Petričić. Child violinist Joshua prepares to participate in a music competition. Nervous on the big day, he makes a mistake mid-song but then says something that an adult wouldn't dare: "I'd really like to start over." The (semi-)triumphant story, based on a true event in the life of virtuoso Joshua Bell, comes with a visible musical accompaniment of sorts: notes resemble swirling ribbons of color.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) YA Present-day New York City teen Etta, a violin prodigy, learns she's part of a family of time travelers. She finds herself and fellow traveler Nicholas on a search across time for a powerful astrolabe. Fans of time-travel adventures should enjoy the characters' zipping from one era to another, and readers who love intrigue will find plenty of it in this series-opener.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) YA Chace was Lana's boyfriend, but when his body is found on the campus of their privileged boarding school, he has a photo of Nicole in his pocket. Nicole, a talented violinist with a scarred face, and beautiful Lana, her popular roommate, alternate telling what happened before and after Chace's murder. This is an absorbing thriller that keeps readers guessing until the end.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(4) K-3 Illustrated by David Litchfield. Singer elaborates on the nursery rhyme, concocting a theatrical piece--including script, stage directions, chorus lyrics, satire, subplots, patter songs, and stock characters--all illustrated in an energetically lurid mixed-media style. There are moments of wit (Miss Muffet and Bo-Peep are virtuoso fiddlers) and some dandy outlandish rhymes, but what might work on the stage is chaotic on the page, lacking focus and narrative logic.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Tricia Tusa. Little Elva desperately wants a violin, but her parents won't buy her one. She improvises with a badminton racket and a leafy branch. Elva's preoccupation with music never goes away, but it's not until she's old that she buys herself a violin. Though the particulars don't have much child appeal, Elva's passion comes through with tenderness and humor in both text and pictures.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke

(4) K-3 Making Music series. These introductions to key instruments in each family border on simplistic (e.g., "a trumpeter pulls the water key to let water out"), but they have attractive photos that are well labeled, and the layout is uncluttered and accessible. In addition to covering basic parts, techniques, and historical background, each book concludes with a profile of a well-known performer. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Making Music titles: Drums, Flute, Guitar, Piano, Trumpet, and Violin.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Qin Leng. Hana practices violin every day for a talent show. Her grandfather Ojiichan, a former orchestral violinist, is her musical inspiration. When she finally steps onto the stage, she gives an, ahem, memorable performance. Leng's illustrations are genial and lighthearted; the final one shows musical notes traveling out of Hana's bedroom window to Ojiichan. A completely charming, refreshingly unsentimental tale of intergenerational family love.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Dušan Petričić. When Dylan hears someone playing the violin in a subway station, he wants to linger; his mother hurries him along. At home, when the radio broadcasts the violinist's music, Dylan finally gets his mom to listen. Inspired by violinist Joshua Bell's performance at a Washington, D.C., subway station (Bell supplies a postscript), the story and swirling art verge on breathtaking.

Reviewer: Nell Beram