Ludwig Van Beethoven

by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara, Romina Galotta (Illustrator)

Learn about the inspiring story of Ludwig van Beethoven, the groundbreaking pianist and composer who changed the shape of classical music.

Little Ludwig grew up in the city of Bonn in Germany. His father and his grandfather were both musicians, and they hoped that Ludwig would take after them, but there's no way they could have known what Ludwig would one day achieve. He learned to play the piano before his feet could even touch the floor, and his talent only continued to grow with his hard work as he got older. He went on to compose amazing musical pieces, including symphonies for a whole orchestra, and his energy and originality blew his audiences away! But his musical skill was about to be put to the test . . . Ludwig began to lose his hearing, and eventually became deaf. He was really worried, as music was his life! But then he realized something he could still hear every instrument in his mind. Through resilience and creativity, Ludwig continued composing extraordinary pieces that changed musical history.

Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most impactful musicians of all time. His inspiring story shows the power of music as a force for creativity and self-expression.

This powerful book features quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical artworks and a detailed profile of the musician's life.
 
Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.
 
This empowering series of books offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover and paperback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. With rewritten text for older children, the treasuries each bring together a multitude of dreamers in a single volume. You can also collect a selection of the books by theme in boxed gift sets. Activity books and a journal provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Music

32 pages, Hardcover

Published September 2, 2025

About the author

You may find books from the "Little People BIG DREAMS" series on author page - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Reviews

[Jacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nonfiction picture book about Ludwig Van Beethoven. This book tells of Beethoven's musical genius and how he started performing concerts on the piano and composing music at a young age. Then it says how Beethoven worked as a musician and piano teacher, and then moved to Vienna to work on composing music. As Beethoven began to start losing his hearing, he still composed music and symphonies. When he wrote his last symphony, the 9th symphony, he was completely deaf and used special tools to help him feel the vibrations in the piano as he composed.

I think this is a really well-written nonfiction picture book. It provides good details about Beethoven's life in a simple way that is easy for children to understand. I really liked the illustrations, and I think they corresponded to the words very well. I liked how they connected Beethoven's life to a message of hope and resilience.

This would be a really good book to have in a classroom library. It can be used to teach a history lesson about a person influential in music, and would work well in a unit about music or famous people. A teacher could play some of Beethoven's music that is mentioned in this book as a way to connect an activity to the book, and also have students try to compose their own music through an online program like GarageBand.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think one of the best known pieces of classical music is Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Even if you don't know what it is, you would probably recognize the opening notes. This book shares Beethoven's story from when he was a young boy being taught to play the piano by his father, to his time living in Vienna and learning from the masters. I also knew that he had gone deaf, but continued to compose and this book shares some of the tricks he used to be able to do this. I think one of the things I really liked about this book was that he didn't give up or stop doing what he loved even though there was a huge roadblock in his way. The illustrations in this book added to the story with the style giving that crazy genius idea in the images of Beethoven. As always there are actual illustrations and a timeline at the back of the book. There are many other composers mentioned in this book and it might encourage the reader to find out more about them as well. This would be a good starting point to a unit on music and composers in schools. This book as well as the others in the series would make a great addition to a school library.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good and very worthwhile book about Beethoven, matching the Mozart volume earlier in this mahoosive series. Here is of course the story of someone pushed to become a masterful musician, yet who went so much further, but also the whole thing about his hearing loss. One way he coped was to feel the vibrations of a long pencil he held between his teeth and leant on the piano at the same time. The artwork is full of the typical swirly stuff that means music in visual shorthand, but it looks lovely and classical, supporting the famous portrait of Beethoven's bouffant. There is a case that not all readers of this franchise will immediately turn into fans, but he certainly deserved the place on this series' shelves either way. Four and a half stars.

[Sadie-Jane Huff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 321 of 350 ~ 2025

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

There is nothing more formidable than the human spirit and boy, was Victor Hugo right.

I will keep reusing this line for when I read titles from this series as I am blown away by the never say die attitude of these amazing humans.

I also absolutely love this series as i find out about the most interesting people and it is all thanks to @mariaisabelsanchezvegara

#book321of350 #amreading #littlepeopleseries #tbrpile #instareads readstagram reading bookreview bookreviewer booklover booksAreLife booksForTheWin booknerds thisbookfairyisreading bookstagram bookstagrammer bookstagramfeature bookshelf booksofinstagram bookish bookworm goodreads booklovers bookaddict theSGbookfairyReads theSGtrekkiereads bookaholic bookchallenge2025 reviews lovebooks

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't too revolutionary. Nothing I didn't already know, and not a ton of back story. I would have liked more details about his hearing loss, I know scientifically we probably don't have any... but at least what age that it started.