Star and the Maestro

“Mozart makes beautiful music with Star, a starling who can imitate many kinds of sounds. . . . The story is told in light rhyming verse, and whether or not readers know much about Mozart, they’ll enjoy seeing the ordinary bird triumph over the more vibrant and unusual specimens at the pet store. . . . [This picture book] zeroes in on a delightful, quirky aspect of the famed composer’s life.” — Kirkus Reviews “Tackling music history via a bird’s-eye view, Hanson spotlights the pedigreed pet fad in the Vienna of Mozart. A common starling feels out of place in a shop. . . . But the bird’s skill at mimicry lands it a happy home—and a composition partner—when Mozart hears the starling repeat 17 notes from one of his own composition. . . Accentuating contrast between light and shadow in digitally rendered artwork, Schu threads the black of the starling’s feathers and golden hue of its beak through each illustration, dramatically anchoring the palette” — Publishers Weekly “Writing in verse that rattles along with the lively speed of a Mozart piano sonata, Hanson relates a true, if lightly embroidered, account of how the astonished composer heard a captive starling singing a phrase of his own music and so carried it away from a store for exotic pets back to his busy studio. . . . Notes on the historical encounter, the great composer, the common starling’s powers of mimicry, and related topics close this evocatively elegant, rhythmic commemoration.” — Booklist