The Book Shelf: How Music Came to the World

How music Came to the World

Hal Ober

32 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

This book is a retelling of an old Mexican myth. It tells about how the sky god and the wind god got together and realized that the world was too quiet. The sky god told the wind god that what the world needed was music and that the only place to find it was in the house of the sun. So the wind god climbed a bridge to the sky and snuck into the house of the sun. There he found musicians and singers, but when he was about to make his move, he was spotted by the Sun. The sun told the musicians to be silent or else the wind god would steal them away. The wind god cried out the musicians to come to him. The they did not move. Again the wind god told them to come with him. They remained silent. Finally, the wind god let out all of his fury in a mighty hurricane. The musicians and singers jumped into his lap and he carried them to the earth. And that is how music came to the world.

I think what I liked most about this book were to elaborate pictures. They're not detailed in the way that a master piece is. However, the book is illustrated in a style that closely resembles aztec art. It's blocky and has many similarities to wall carvings. Over all, this is a wonderful book and would be beneficial for teaching children about myths and legends.

The Original Purpose

This blog actually originated as a class assignment. The first "younger reading" class I took had each student create a different note card for every book they read. The note card was to have all of the information on the book as well as a brief summary and our reaction to what we read. With my children's literature class being the second class that required a similar assignment, I decided that a blog was more practical than trying to find some place to store several hundred 3x5 notecards. Thus the birth of "The Book Shelf." I hope you enjoy my insights.