MMGM: Duet, by Elise Broach

If you are musical at all, if you like the piano, if you like Chopin—then I have two strong recommendations for you. The first is this wonderful book by Elise Broach about a goldfinch and a young pianist (and a mystery about a piano).

It's been ten years since I posted about the last Elise Broach book I read, Masterpiece, which is about a beetle and a young artist and Albrecht Durer. I was impressed enough by that book that when I saw her name on a book spine at the library, I immediately took it home.

Broach has a wonderful way of introducing young readers to art and music with such compelling storytelling that the reader never realizes how much they are learning! In the case of Duet, we have the characters of Mirabelle, a young goldfinch with a gift for singing, and Michael, a gifted young pianist who doesn't want a new piano teacher. Mirabelle becomes Michael's muse, singing as he plays and inspiring him to play even better. The description of the music is beautiful and inviting: I looked up the Chopin pieces mentioned so that I could hear what they sounded like! Mirabelle and Michael's friendship is believable and sweet—they can't speak to each other, (Mirabelle is a precocious bird, but still just a bird) but they communicate nonetheless, and each fills a void in the other's life

There is a whole cast of engaging supporting characters, both bird and human. Mirabelle's bird family is a delight! Mr. Starek the piano teacher has his own little story arc, and it's lovely to see everyone coming together to help him in different ways. The mystery of a famous lost piano is solved by Mirabelle and her brothers, and Michael has a satisfying journey developing his piano talent.

A beautiful, uplifting story that will send readers out to find out more about Chopin, and might even inspire them to work on their own talent, whatever it is.

Then you can go watch an animated series on Netflix called Forest of Piano. It's the story of two piano students, one privileged and dedicated, the other with a wild, inherent talent but from the wrong side of the tracks. It follows them all the way from boyhood to teenagers competing in the International Chopin competition. It's a story of music, of friendship, of mentorship, of genius, and there is a lot of Chopin music played and explained. It's also a pretty good depiction of the stress of music competitions, which I could relate to! (From Kiwanis Festivals, not Chopin competitions!) The soundtrack was played by Vladimir Ashkenazy, and the animators did a fantastic job of animating the fingers playing the piano!

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday has been a running feature for more than a decade now, highlighting great middle-grade reads every week. Be sure to head to Greg Pattridge's blog to see this week's collection.