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Brundibar
Based on a Czech opera that was performed 55 times by children in Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp, Brundibar is an odd, urgent little tale of a brother and sister who are desperately trying to get their hands on some milk for their sick mother. They race to the village center, only to discover that they need money to buy milk. Unfortunately, all the money in town seems to be going to the nefarious hurdy-gurdy man, Brundibar. Enter three talking animals and 300 willing children (bearing balloons stating "WE DON'T MIND SKIPPING SCHOOL"), and things start looking up for little Aninku and Pepicek.Retold by playwright Tony Kushner and illustrated by Caldecott Medal recipient Maurice Sendak, this operatic story is just nutty enough to become a favorite for open-minded young readers. Sendak fans will smile to see the village baker, who bears a striking resemblance to the baker in Sendak's In the Night Kitchen . His chaotic, jam-packed illustrations reveal witty little subplots to the libretto text (written all in upper case), which sharp-eyed readers will enjoy discovering. (Ages 5 to 8)
64 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
324 people want to read
About the author
Tony Kushner
100 books476 followersTony Kushner is an award-winning American playwright most famous for his play Angels in America, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He is also co-author, along with Eric Roth, of the screenplay of the 2005 film Munich, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and earned Kushner (along with Roth) an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
April 27, 2019
This is a story based off an opera, I don’t know the opera being sourced. 2 children find their mother sick and the doctor tells them to run to town and buy milk. They have no money. They are in town and the milkman will not give them milk.
The 2 look around and see an organ grinder and monkey singing and dancing and making all kinds of money. It gives them the idea they can sing for money. The hurdy gurdy is so loud that you can’t hear the children. So, the kids ask for help and many other children come help them as they all sing a song. Everything ends well.
It’s a cute story. Maurice Sendak did the art and it’s pure Maurice. The colors are beautiful and look like they have been colored using crayola’s, which you don’t see often in his work. The setting is a Jewish village.
The children thought this was fun. These 2 kids had to outsmart the organ grinder and my kids love it when the kids are sly and outsmart the adults. So the nephew gave this 4 stars and the niece gave it 3 stars. The niece did ask how milk was going to help the sick mother. Good question I told her. Keep thinking my dear, I said.
The 2 look around and see an organ grinder and monkey singing and dancing and making all kinds of money. It gives them the idea they can sing for money. The hurdy gurdy is so loud that you can’t hear the children. So, the kids ask for help and many other children come help them as they all sing a song. Everything ends well.
It’s a cute story. Maurice Sendak did the art and it’s pure Maurice. The colors are beautiful and look like they have been colored using crayola’s, which you don’t see often in his work. The setting is a Jewish village.
The children thought this was fun. These 2 kids had to outsmart the organ grinder and my kids love it when the kids are sly and outsmart the adults. So the nephew gave this 4 stars and the niece gave it 3 stars. The niece did ask how milk was going to help the sick mother. Good question I told her. Keep thinking my dear, I said.
March 2, 2012
Reason for Reading: I pick up Maurice Sendak books simply because I love his illustrations, though I prefer the non-monster stuff. When I got home and read the story behind this picture book I was greatly intrigued.
This book can be read on two levels. One simply read the cute, fun story about children winning over a bully to young children. There are a few frightening scenes and the story ends on an uncomfortable note but most children should get a shiver and a giggle from the story.
On the second level what we have here is a very deep, symbolic rendering of the Holocaust in picture book format. Have older children read the jacket flaps, look up the story behind this opera and deal with the sad reality of where this story came from. Then read the story and look carefully at the pictures because Sendak has used a lot of symbolism and hidden small images some of which may have only meaning to him. I would love to read a critical essay on the illustrations of this book. Some characters in the town have yellow Stars of David sewn to their chests, others have yellow arm bands, there are Stars of David in the occasional window and in the background we can occasionally see crosses on top of church steeples. The authority figures have an arm raised as if in a "heil", they also often have a leg poised as if ready to march goose step. The villain Brundibar has a Hitler mustache and his organ grinder monkey is wearing a German helmet. The Dr. is distinctly portrayed as Jewish and the final scene shows the mother's bedroom with a crucifix on the wall where there clearly wasn't one in the opening scene. Also if you look closely you'll find the names of the composers written on the wall within the pages and every here and there is a haunting shadowy image of a tattered child in the background. I could go on ...
All this to say, this picture book left me feeling sad for the fate of those who wrote and preformed this opera and also for the message that while we can beat bullies when we come together, there will unfortunately always be another one around another corner. Yet at the same time I was boosted by the spirit of the real people who lived (really *lived*) while they were dying in those horrifying concentration camps. This book is a classic and should not be forgotten. Thanks to Hyperion for keeping it in print. While a picture book, it would make a great addition to middle/high school courses on WWII.
This book can be read on two levels. One simply read the cute, fun story about children winning over a bully to young children. There are a few frightening scenes and the story ends on an uncomfortable note but most children should get a shiver and a giggle from the story.
On the second level what we have here is a very deep, symbolic rendering of the Holocaust in picture book format. Have older children read the jacket flaps, look up the story behind this opera and deal with the sad reality of where this story came from. Then read the story and look carefully at the pictures because Sendak has used a lot of symbolism and hidden small images some of which may have only meaning to him. I would love to read a critical essay on the illustrations of this book. Some characters in the town have yellow Stars of David sewn to their chests, others have yellow arm bands, there are Stars of David in the occasional window and in the background we can occasionally see crosses on top of church steeples. The authority figures have an arm raised as if in a "heil", they also often have a leg poised as if ready to march goose step. The villain Brundibar has a Hitler mustache and his organ grinder monkey is wearing a German helmet. The Dr. is distinctly portrayed as Jewish and the final scene shows the mother's bedroom with a crucifix on the wall where there clearly wasn't one in the opening scene. Also if you look closely you'll find the names of the composers written on the wall within the pages and every here and there is a haunting shadowy image of a tattered child in the background. I could go on ...
All this to say, this picture book left me feeling sad for the fate of those who wrote and preformed this opera and also for the message that while we can beat bullies when we come together, there will unfortunately always be another one around another corner. Yet at the same time I was boosted by the spirit of the real people who lived (really *lived*) while they were dying in those horrifying concentration camps. This book is a classic and should not be forgotten. Thanks to Hyperion for keeping it in print. While a picture book, it would make a great addition to middle/high school courses on WWII.
April 25, 2010
This is going to be a bit of a complex review, so let's get on with it.
First, some backstory. Brundibar was an opera performed by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp as a sop to show the Red Cross that they weren't being maltreated. Most of those children were later killed at Auschwitz.
It is clear from the illustrations that this book was not just inspired by the opera itself, but by the Holocaust. Or, no, not that it was *inspired* by the Holocaust, but that it's in tribute to those children. The illustrations have swastikas, many characters wear yellow armbands with a Star-of-David on them, the wicked character Brundibar looks like Hitler. At one point the children sing a lullabye about growing up and leaving, and the spread following the lullabye shows children being carried off by crows while their mothers weep - to adult eyes, it looks plainly like they're meant to be dead, although my nieces (pre-k and first grade) have never commented on it at all.
Now, you can take these details and go with them as far as you like. You can talk about what the pictures obviously represent,, or you can ignore them entirely. Either way is up to you, and I can't say one way is better than the other.
As far as the story itself, it's written in a sort of half-comic style, with the characters speaking in dialog bubbles, often directly to the reader. There are some scary scenes - they're chased from the square by the villainous Brundibar and hide overnight in an alley, there's the constant fear that their sick mother will die if they don't succeed in earning money for milk, and at the end of the book, after their triumphant victory, we have a message from Brundibar himself saying "Bullies don't give up completely. One departs, the next appears..." which I guess is true enough, but a bit depressing to contemplate.
My nieces adore this book. At one point, when the older one was three, I was reading it several times a day. The only problems I actually have with it is that a lot of the dialog is explicitly called "singing", but there's no indication of the tune, so you have to kinda make it up. This frustrates me, especially the aforementioned lullaby, which is kinda long and takes up two pages of text.
I recommend this book. However, I do suggest you read it first. If you think you'll be uncomfortable with the subject matter I mentioned, or that you don't want to have to explain it to your children, you shouldn't buy it.
First, some backstory. Brundibar was an opera performed by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp as a sop to show the Red Cross that they weren't being maltreated. Most of those children were later killed at Auschwitz.
It is clear from the illustrations that this book was not just inspired by the opera itself, but by the Holocaust. Or, no, not that it was *inspired* by the Holocaust, but that it's in tribute to those children. The illustrations have swastikas, many characters wear yellow armbands with a Star-of-David on them, the wicked character Brundibar looks like Hitler. At one point the children sing a lullabye about growing up and leaving, and the spread following the lullabye shows children being carried off by crows while their mothers weep - to adult eyes, it looks plainly like they're meant to be dead, although my nieces (pre-k and first grade) have never commented on it at all.
Now, you can take these details and go with them as far as you like. You can talk about what the pictures obviously represent,, or you can ignore them entirely. Either way is up to you, and I can't say one way is better than the other.
As far as the story itself, it's written in a sort of half-comic style, with the characters speaking in dialog bubbles, often directly to the reader. There are some scary scenes - they're chased from the square by the villainous Brundibar and hide overnight in an alley, there's the constant fear that their sick mother will die if they don't succeed in earning money for milk, and at the end of the book, after their triumphant victory, we have a message from Brundibar himself saying "Bullies don't give up completely. One departs, the next appears..." which I guess is true enough, but a bit depressing to contemplate.
My nieces adore this book. At one point, when the older one was three, I was reading it several times a day. The only problems I actually have with it is that a lot of the dialog is explicitly called "singing", but there's no indication of the tune, so you have to kinda make it up. This frustrates me, especially the aforementioned lullaby, which is kinda long and takes up two pages of text.
I recommend this book. However, I do suggest you read it first. If you think you'll be uncomfortable with the subject matter I mentioned, or that you don't want to have to explain it to your children, you shouldn't buy it.
February 17, 2024
I was reading Brundibar in a Tim Hortons today, unsure of how I felt, when I got approached by a little girl who I used to read stories to at my old bookstore gig (this happens to me sometimes).
We talked a bit, and she asked me what I was reading. I hesitated to show her at first because even though I wasn't quite finished the book, I knew it was a pretty dark fable inspired by the Holocaust.
I decided to trust Sendak and read it to Luella and she responded to it immediately. She burst out laughing at the rainbow colored ice cream vendor, she liked that the kids outsmart the adults and save their sick mom. She thought the pictures of kids riding birds was "silly". She even laughed at the strange grotesque depiction of Brundibar the organ grinder as he was pecked apart by crows. I thought it was funny every time she saw Brundibar she'd ask if he was the same guy from before because his expressions changed so much
Usually when I read to kids I have to breathe a lot of life into the book to engage kids. But Sendak's pictures immediately gripped Luella and spoke to her.
To me that's a five star read, regardless of what I think.
We talked a bit, and she asked me what I was reading. I hesitated to show her at first because even though I wasn't quite finished the book, I knew it was a pretty dark fable inspired by the Holocaust.
I decided to trust Sendak and read it to Luella and she responded to it immediately. She burst out laughing at the rainbow colored ice cream vendor, she liked that the kids outsmart the adults and save their sick mom. She thought the pictures of kids riding birds was "silly". She even laughed at the strange grotesque depiction of Brundibar the organ grinder as he was pecked apart by crows. I thought it was funny every time she saw Brundibar she'd ask if he was the same guy from before because his expressions changed so much
Usually when I read to kids I have to breathe a lot of life into the book to engage kids. But Sendak's pictures immediately gripped Luella and spoke to her.
To me that's a five star read, regardless of what I think.
Read
January 9, 2016A picture book for children based on a Czech opera which was performed by the children at Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp.
In 2005, Brundibar was nominated for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis for Bilderbuch. And my guess is that German guilt over the concentration camps was a deciding factor.
My Take
I'll give it a "3" simply for the gorgeous illustrations, but the rest of the story? No. God knows I always seem to dislike prize-winning books.
When the doctor comes prancing in with that yellow star stitched onto his coat, you wonder how the Nazis will fit into the picture, but there aren't any. It's simply two children who need to raise money. And in such a hurry they are.
It claims that the hurdy-gurdy grinder is the bully, but it appears to me that the children are the bullies. Sure they do need to raise money, but that doesn't mean they can pick on people. I have to say I am not impressed with this story. I'd find it hard to sell that it's Brundibar who's the bully. I also wish that the animals had been named. How hard would it be to come up with three names?
There are some cute songs in here that kids will adore because they're so rude.
The illustrations are amazing, and yes they all appear to be done with a crayon; you will be shocked by how incredibly gorgeous they are! They're bright, cheerful, and very busy.
The Story
Aninku and Pepicek go to town for milk to make their sick mother better but their attempts to earn money by singing are thwarted by a hurdy-gurdy grinder.
The Characters
A brother and sister — Pepicek and Aninku — need to help their mother.
Cat, dog, and sparrow make suggestions.
Brundibar is a hurdy-gurdy grinder and his monkey with terrible songs.
The Cover and Title
The cover looks like someone used a crayon for the picture with Pepicek and Aninku rushing along, carrying a pail of milk across a grassy lawn with a yellow rail fence behind them, behind which is a blooming garden of pink flowers, rolling countryside and a purple flowered tree and a village of odd roofs behind that. It's also a full moon back there.
The title is the seeming bully, Brundibar, who is simply trying to make a living.
In 2005, Brundibar was nominated for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis for Bilderbuch. And my guess is that German guilt over the concentration camps was a deciding factor.
My Take
I'll give it a "3" simply for the gorgeous illustrations, but the rest of the story? No. God knows I always seem to dislike prize-winning books.
When the doctor comes prancing in with that yellow star stitched onto his coat, you wonder how the Nazis will fit into the picture, but there aren't any. It's simply two children who need to raise money. And in such a hurry they are.
It claims that the hurdy-gurdy grinder is the bully, but it appears to me that the children are the bullies. Sure they do need to raise money, but that doesn't mean they can pick on people. I have to say I am not impressed with this story. I'd find it hard to sell that it's Brundibar who's the bully. I also wish that the animals had been named. How hard would it be to come up with three names?
There are some cute songs in here that kids will adore because they're so rude.
The illustrations are amazing, and yes they all appear to be done with a crayon; you will be shocked by how incredibly gorgeous they are! They're bright, cheerful, and very busy.
The Story
Aninku and Pepicek go to town for milk to make their sick mother better but their attempts to earn money by singing are thwarted by a hurdy-gurdy grinder.
The Characters
A brother and sister — Pepicek and Aninku — need to help their mother.
Cat, dog, and sparrow make suggestions.
Brundibar is a hurdy-gurdy grinder and his monkey with terrible songs.
The Cover and Title
The cover looks like someone used a crayon for the picture with Pepicek and Aninku rushing along, carrying a pail of milk across a grassy lawn with a yellow rail fence behind them, behind which is a blooming garden of pink flowers, rolling countryside and a purple flowered tree and a village of odd roofs behind that. It's also a full moon back there.
The title is the seeming bully, Brundibar, who is simply trying to make a living.
August 1, 2022
Love it. Took me a few reads to really get the depth of the message. On its face, it's a story about kids standing up to bullies in order to save their dying Mother. But during the 2nd reading, the symbolism was pretty obvious. I somehow missed all the illustrations with the star of David, the cross, authority figures with their arms in "heil" formation, and Brundibar looks exactly like Hitler. (In my defense, sometimes you just push through a book so your kids will shut up and go to bed).
I learned that this was originally an opera that was played out by kids in concentration camps. So heartbreaking and also so inspiring.
Seems like many reviewers were somewhat upset with the ending. But as my teenager would say, "where's the lie?" We still have Nazis, there will be another Trump, and another El Guapo.
“They believe they’ve won the fight,
they believe I’m gone-- not quite!
Nothing ever works out neatly--
Bullies don’t give up completely.
One departs, the next appears,
And we shall meet again, my dears!
Though I go, I won’t go far--
I’ll be back. Love, Brundibar!”
I learned that this was originally an opera that was played out by kids in concentration camps. So heartbreaking and also so inspiring.
Seems like many reviewers were somewhat upset with the ending. But as my teenager would say, "where's the lie?" We still have Nazis, there will be another Trump, and another El Guapo.
“They believe they’ve won the fight,
they believe I’m gone-- not quite!
Nothing ever works out neatly--
Bullies don’t give up completely.
One departs, the next appears,
And we shall meet again, my dears!
Though I go, I won’t go far--
I’ll be back. Love, Brundibar!”
May 20, 2015
This children’s opera that was performed at Terezin, the Nazi concentration camp, 55 times. It’s about two little children trying to raise money to buy milk for their sick mother. Brundibar is a bully of a street performer, who chases off all other performers. The children are helped by three talking animals and three hundred children.
I loved the additions of characters from other Maurice Sendak picture books.
I borrowed this from my public library.
I loved the additions of characters from other Maurice Sendak picture books.
I borrowed this from my public library.
November 4, 2010
I was just reminded about this book by hearing of the world's oldest Holocaust survivor, Alice, who is celebrating her 107th birthday this month. She was 41, my age now, when the war ended. Her son was in Theresienstadt with her and was one of the children singing this opera. It is a stark story with touches of magical realism. I love it and have loved reading it to my children.
March 30, 2024
A little bit difficult to rate. As a story on its own, I would rate it lower, but I read it for its historical significance in relation to the children of Terezin during World War II, and in that light, I rated it higher.
December 15, 2011
Fabulous! Wonderful! Amazing! There aren't enough words in any language to describe this book!
Aninku and Pepicek, brother and sister, wake up one morning to find their mother gravely ill. They run for the doctor and the doctor says she needs mile. The children head into town to fetch milk. Along the way they encounter an ice cream seller and a baker, but they don't have any money. They realize this is a problem when the milk man says "No money, no milk." They have no idea where to obtain money. Then they see Brundibar in the town square. Brundibar plays a hurdy gurdy and grown ups give him money even though he isn't very good. The children get an idea: if they sing, people will give them money! But no one can hear them over Brundibar.
Alone and sad in an alley, the siblings are approached by a sparrow, a cat and a dog. Together they come up with the idea to gather as many children together as they can. Carrying banners that read: "We are 300 kids come to help you" and "Milk for Mommy! Bullies Must Be Defied!," the schoolchildren storm the town square and begin to sing. Brundibar attempts to shoo them away and claim the square as territory, but the townspeople have none of it! They want to hear children sing!
This time, many, many coins fly into the childrens' bucket. And Brundibar is booed out of the square. Brother and sister purchase the needed milk for their mother and return home.
This is a wondrous story with elements of Hansel and Gretel and The Bremin Town Musicians. A fabulous read-aloud for a storytime on bullying!
Aninku and Pepicek, brother and sister, wake up one morning to find their mother gravely ill. They run for the doctor and the doctor says she needs mile. The children head into town to fetch milk. Along the way they encounter an ice cream seller and a baker, but they don't have any money. They realize this is a problem when the milk man says "No money, no milk." They have no idea where to obtain money. Then they see Brundibar in the town square. Brundibar plays a hurdy gurdy and grown ups give him money even though he isn't very good. The children get an idea: if they sing, people will give them money! But no one can hear them over Brundibar.
Alone and sad in an alley, the siblings are approached by a sparrow, a cat and a dog. Together they come up with the idea to gather as many children together as they can. Carrying banners that read: "We are 300 kids come to help you" and "Milk for Mommy! Bullies Must Be Defied!," the schoolchildren storm the town square and begin to sing. Brundibar attempts to shoo them away and claim the square as territory, but the townspeople have none of it! They want to hear children sing!
This time, many, many coins fly into the childrens' bucket. And Brundibar is booed out of the square. Brother and sister purchase the needed milk for their mother and return home.
This is a wondrous story with elements of Hansel and Gretel and The Bremin Town Musicians. A fabulous read-aloud for a storytime on bullying!
April 23, 2016
Based on an opera written in 1938, performed by children in a Nazi concentration camp, and composed by a man who was killed in Auschwitz in 1944, this superficially light folk tale has a dark subtext indeed. Their mother being sick, a pair of children are sent to town to buy milk, but the bully Brundibar obstructs their ability to sing to earn money, until talking animals and a horde of other children band together to help them and drive the evil bully away. Maurice Sendak's art includes some of his characteristic obsessions, such as an appearance by Oliver Hardy as a baker (reprising his In the Night Kitchern role). It also drops in subtle reminders of the Nazi context, such as the yellow stars visible on the clothing of several figures, including many children. The lullaby the children sing to earn their money is about babies, both human and blackbird, growing up and flying away, leaving their mothers behind. It is followed by a two-page, wordless spread, showing children being carried off by blackbirds while mothers mourn. Given the Nazi context, this is a powerful and moving centrepiece for the narrative, clearly allegorical of the holocaust. Even though it is a happy story, Brundibar being defeated and the mother being saved, the book refuses to allow us to forget the grim conditions under which it was written and performed. Even at the end, the books makes clear that though Brundibar may have been defeated, there will always be another bully. Superficially simple, and beautifully drawn, but profound and ultimately dark.
October 28, 2013
I had never heard of Brundibar before my children’s literature class but I’m so glad I read it! Not only is it a cute story for children but it’s chilling historical significance is what makes the story fascinating.
Brundibar is a very easy read and very short. It’s easy to understand and follow the story and the illustrations are lovely! It’s innocent and everything a children’s story should be, with Aninku and Pepicek the protagonists who defeat the evil Brundibar with the help of all the little children in town with just a touch of darkness to chill your bones.
Onto the historical significance:
Brundibar was originally a children’s opera and it was performed in Terezin a concentration camp created to look like a peaceful town to fool the Red Cross. The Red Cross had heard rumours of the Nazi’s killing Jews and wanted to investigate. The Nazi’s created Terezin, a community of artistic children who performed the play for nearby towns. Brundibar was performed 55 times with an ever changing cast as the children were sent to death. The Red Cross were fooled. Out of the thousands of children sent to Terezin only 100 survived.
For those interested there is a book on the artwork saved from Terezin published in the book I Never Saw Another Butterfly.
Brundibar is a very easy read and very short. It’s easy to understand and follow the story and the illustrations are lovely! It’s innocent and everything a children’s story should be, with Aninku and Pepicek the protagonists who defeat the evil Brundibar with the help of all the little children in town with just a touch of darkness to chill your bones.
Onto the historical significance:
Brundibar was originally a children’s opera and it was performed in Terezin a concentration camp created to look like a peaceful town to fool the Red Cross. The Red Cross had heard rumours of the Nazi’s killing Jews and wanted to investigate. The Nazi’s created Terezin, a community of artistic children who performed the play for nearby towns. Brundibar was performed 55 times with an ever changing cast as the children were sent to death. The Red Cross were fooled. Out of the thousands of children sent to Terezin only 100 survived.
For those interested there is a book on the artwork saved from Terezin published in the book I Never Saw Another Butterfly.
January 15, 2008
Maurice Sendak was one of my childhood favorites, and this one touches home for anyone who has holocaust survivors in their family.
October 11, 2008
Beautiful and dark, and not necessarily meant for children... Full of crows, images of war-time Prague and foreboding.
July 4, 2012
Oh, my.
This is a beautiful book on both its levels. On the level of the story, and then on the level of the background to the story.
Beautiful.
This is a beautiful book on both its levels. On the level of the story, and then on the level of the background to the story.
Beautiful.
February 2, 2023
Wow the Maurice Sendak illustrations are so dense this is really a marvel to look at. The world it creates suggests "Fiddle on the Roof" or "Thje Twelve chairs" but more digestable for young people. Also, Tony Kushner appears to have preserved alot of the text which was originally an opera. although there are allusions to the Holocaust it remains simple enough to be the perfect children's story on the theme of persevereance as well. Highly recommended!
March 30, 2025
Very Good.
April 19, 2025
Not my favorite Sendak book, but they were trying to thread a challenging needle— to tell a hard story to small children without unnecessarily traumatizing them. And my favorite thing about Sendak is that he acknowledges that kids have hard days and aren’t always smiling or perfectly behaved. And from the midst of a time where many are learning how to stand up to bullies, it’s a thing worth commemorating and worth doing, even if it didn’t totally land for me.
August 2, 2022
I love Maurice Sendak’s illustrations. He always is different in every book.
This is a book based on an opera. It’s got tragedy with real stakes and stuff that modern children’s books dare not touch. I love it.
This is a book based on an opera. It’s got tragedy with real stakes and stuff that modern children’s books dare not touch. I love it.
February 21, 2020
Tony Kushner and illustrator/author/ICON Maurice Sendak have joined forces for this quaint little tale of how two Dutch kids, desperate to get fresh milk for their sick mom, run into a bully, the notorious scoundrel Brundibar, who keeps a tight hold on the funds needed for mom's cure. Brundibar doesn't like kids. At all. Just the edge the two little heroes, brother and sister, need...to gather an army of 300 children to take down Brundibar once and for all. I'm thinking of sending a copy of this book to our, ahem, "president" as a nice little memo of fair warning: the power of ordinary people is greater than Donald! Mr Sendak never stopped believing in children. Neither have I, nor will I. Which is why I do this book project, so kids can be as inspired to be their own heroes as I have been. Sendak, bless you!
Four stars
Brundibar is WUNDERBAR!!!!
Four stars
Brundibar is WUNDERBAR!!!!
April 3, 2016
There is a very tragic story behind this book. Based on a Czech opera, set to music by a Hans Krasa.
As Nazi Germany and the evilness of Hitler and his henchmen were creeping and then running frantically to exterminate Jews, the opera Brundibar was performed by children of in the concentration camp of Terezin.
Used as propaganda, the play was performed 55 times.
Sadly, the composer Krasa was imprisoned in Terezin and later killed in 1944 in Auschwitz.
The book is written by the playwright Tony Kushner with stunning illustrations by Sendak.
When Aniku and Pepicek awake to find their mother gravely ill, they call a doctor who informs them fresh milk will save their mother.
With no money, they trek a long way into the town square where many are selling and buying. Alas, the milk man turns them away because they cannot pay for his ware.
Meeting a nasty hurdy gurdy Brundibar who bullies and frightens them while trying to thwart their plans, eventually, the town of 300 children sing in order for Aniku and Pepicek to buy milk.
In real life tragically, often after children performed the play in Treblinka, they were transported to Auschwitz. Still, time and time again, knowing that some of them were slated to die, they sang on and on.
http://theater.nytimes.com/2006/05/09......
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/sa...
Throughout Sendak's illustrations the town square is filled with people wearing the yellow star imposed upon them by the Nazis. The play and the book, while dark and stark in theme, realistically depict good vs evil.
Please take a few minutes (18 of them) and watch this interview with Bill Moyers. It is incredibly insightful and beautiful.
http://www.pbs.org/now/arts/sendak.html
As Nazi Germany and the evilness of Hitler and his henchmen were creeping and then running frantically to exterminate Jews, the opera Brundibar was performed by children of in the concentration camp of Terezin.
Used as propaganda, the play was performed 55 times.
Sadly, the composer Krasa was imprisoned in Terezin and later killed in 1944 in Auschwitz.
The book is written by the playwright Tony Kushner with stunning illustrations by Sendak.
When Aniku and Pepicek awake to find their mother gravely ill, they call a doctor who informs them fresh milk will save their mother.
With no money, they trek a long way into the town square where many are selling and buying. Alas, the milk man turns them away because they cannot pay for his ware.
Meeting a nasty hurdy gurdy Brundibar who bullies and frightens them while trying to thwart their plans, eventually, the town of 300 children sing in order for Aniku and Pepicek to buy milk.
In real life tragically, often after children performed the play in Treblinka, they were transported to Auschwitz. Still, time and time again, knowing that some of them were slated to die, they sang on and on.
http://theater.nytimes.com/2006/05/09......
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/sa...
Throughout Sendak's illustrations the town square is filled with people wearing the yellow star imposed upon them by the Nazis. The play and the book, while dark and stark in theme, realistically depict good vs evil.
Please take a few minutes (18 of them) and watch this interview with Bill Moyers. It is incredibly insightful and beautiful.
http://www.pbs.org/now/arts/sendak.html
February 23, 2014
As I took a trip through this beautifully illustrated children's version of Brundibar by Tony Kushner, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, I listened to an interview on PBS NOW between Sendak and Bill Moyer. Sendak went on to assist in the production of the opera in Chicago where he met one of the women who performed in the original production in the Nazi camp described in detail in the previously reviewed book, The Girls in Room 28.
The 2003 Brundibar is a retelling of the 1938 children's opera by Hans Krasa and Adolf Hoffmeister. It is the story of Pepicek and Aninku, two young children whose mother is sick and needs milk from town. The two run to town only to find they need money to get milk. They are poor and decide to sing for the money to buy the milk. But they are thwarted by Brundibar, a hurdy-gurdy man who sang with his monkey and got all the coins. Finally 300 children join the two and they defeat the bully Brundibar. The children sing the final song:
The wicked never win!
We have our victory yet!
Tyrants come along, but you just wait and see!
They topple one-two-three!
Our friends make us strong!
And thus we end our song
Unfortunately the original authors and Kushner and Sendak remind us of potential future dangers with this final note from Brundibar:
They believe they've won the fight,
They believe I'm gone - not quite!
Nothing ever works out neatly -
Bullies don't give up completely.
one departs, the next appears
and we shall meet again, my dears!
though I go, I won't go far...
I'll be back. Love,
Brundibar
Sadly this serves to remind us that we must remember what happened to these children and thousands of others who have been oppressed and murdered. We might defeat one bully, but there are others we should seek to defeat. Only by our persistence in the defeat of evil in our world can we honor these children who together defeated Brundibar.
The 2003 Brundibar is a retelling of the 1938 children's opera by Hans Krasa and Adolf Hoffmeister. It is the story of Pepicek and Aninku, two young children whose mother is sick and needs milk from town. The two run to town only to find they need money to get milk. They are poor and decide to sing for the money to buy the milk. But they are thwarted by Brundibar, a hurdy-gurdy man who sang with his monkey and got all the coins. Finally 300 children join the two and they defeat the bully Brundibar. The children sing the final song:
The wicked never win!
We have our victory yet!
Tyrants come along, but you just wait and see!
They topple one-two-three!
Our friends make us strong!
And thus we end our song
Unfortunately the original authors and Kushner and Sendak remind us of potential future dangers with this final note from Brundibar:
They believe they've won the fight,
They believe I'm gone - not quite!
Nothing ever works out neatly -
Bullies don't give up completely.
one departs, the next appears
and we shall meet again, my dears!
though I go, I won't go far...
I'll be back. Love,
Brundibar
Sadly this serves to remind us that we must remember what happened to these children and thousands of others who have been oppressed and murdered. We might defeat one bully, but there are others we should seek to defeat. Only by our persistence in the defeat of evil in our world can we honor these children who together defeated Brundibar.
April 16, 2018
Based on a Czech opera, Brundibar is a delightful story of two small children who try to raise money to buy their ailing mother some milk. Their attempts to sing for coins are thwarted by a tyrannical street musician named Brundibar, but little Aninku and Pepicek accept the help of both animal friends and hundreds of local schoolchildren to show that good can indeed triumph over evil.
It is deeply affecting to realize that this story was performed by the children of Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp, and that the man responsible for setting it to music was also imprisoned there (and later died in Auschwitz). Even though not direct reference is made in the text, the illustrations feature many characters wearing a bright Star of David on their clothes. Details such as this effectively underscore the message of hope in the story, and that alone would make it a worthy choice.
However, there is much more to recommend the tale. The pages are full of illustrations and color without being too busy. Speech bubbles introduce the characters are exposition even before the title page, and these bits of dialogue also alternate of Aninku and Pepicek are drawn with a light touch, almost as if with a textured combination of watercolor and colored pencil. Brundibar, on the other hand, is darker and more solid, even sinister, in how he is painted. The faintness of the children sets them apart from the other elements and even emphasizes how small and helpless they might feel. As a result, it is even more deeply gratifying to see them discover their own strength and resources in resisting Brundibar, an inspiring example to readers of any age or situation.
It is deeply affecting to realize that this story was performed by the children of Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp, and that the man responsible for setting it to music was also imprisoned there (and later died in Auschwitz). Even though not direct reference is made in the text, the illustrations feature many characters wearing a bright Star of David on their clothes. Details such as this effectively underscore the message of hope in the story, and that alone would make it a worthy choice.
However, there is much more to recommend the tale. The pages are full of illustrations and color without being too busy. Speech bubbles introduce the characters are exposition even before the title page, and these bits of dialogue also alternate of Aninku and Pepicek are drawn with a light touch, almost as if with a textured combination of watercolor and colored pencil. Brundibar, on the other hand, is darker and more solid, even sinister, in how he is painted. The faintness of the children sets them apart from the other elements and even emphasizes how small and helpless they might feel. As a result, it is even more deeply gratifying to see them discover their own strength and resources in resisting Brundibar, an inspiring example to readers of any age or situation.
June 29, 2012
The history behind this story is touching, but as a book it doesn't really work. Maybe it would be better actually performed as an opera.
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October 20, 2012Based on a 1930's Czech opera, that was performed in concentration camps by children for the Nazis. An interesting read, frightening at times illustrations.
August 25, 2018
Weird and twisted in a way. Good message and ending. Amazing art. It always intrigued me as a kid, from the art to the story. Now, learning the history behind it, I'm even more intrigued. Wonderful.
December 9, 2025
The story is simple: after the doctor prescribes milk as a remedy, a sickly mother sends two children to town to get milk to revive her. In the village, the milkman must be paid for the milk so the penniless children try various means to earn money for milk. Meanwhile, an organ grinder has stolen their audience of townsfolks so the children explain and call upon the 300 village children, who volunteer to help. In the end, milk is procured and Mama is saved.
This Sendak-Kushner collaboration is rich with history and symbolism in its elaborate storytelling. So much symbolism, particularly in Sendak's illustrations, can be found in subtle detail and obvious images. From the swastikas and Star of Davids displayed and worn, to the grimacing Hitleresque organ grinder, Brundibar himself, and his nasty monkey, to the “arbeit macht frei” sign over the village and the policeman’s straight-armed salute.
Jewish and Holocaust symbolism is rampant such as hints of the gas chambers in the children’s song:
“When the winter wind came blowing
Goosy flew up high,
Daddy heard his mournful honking
We heard daddy cry.
Why goose, why goose do you fly so
If I may inquire?
If you’re feeling cold, we’ll warm you
In our oven fire.”
Sendak’s images reflect his haunting childhood memories of a nearly lost (except for his art) childhood tainted by stories of family members dying in far-off Germany in the Holocaust. While the children in this, as in so many of Sendak’s picturebooks, represent hope, resilience, and collective action, adults are not so kindly drawn. In one image, the haughty adults in town are so mercenary that their arms are filled with— and the dog’s collar even made of— dollar bills, and in an “emperor has no clothes” turn, the phumping, wheezing, horridly-off-key singing organ grinder, has fooled the adults with his rich attire as they throw money at him.
This picturebook is a fascinating tribute to the opera performed by children of Theresienstadt concentration camp during WWII— the opera front performed for the public in the model camp the Germans had created to "show the world" how kindly they had treated the Jews. Brundibar (Czech for “Bumblebee”), the original opera written by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása was staged in 1944 for representatives of the Red Cross who came to inspect living conditions in the camp; although most of what they saw was performative.
Though this book comes much later than Max, this, among so many later works, allowed Sendak to escape what he once referenced as “Kiddiebookland”, the softer, gentler illustrations of his earlier works.
This Sendak-Kushner collaboration is rich with history and symbolism in its elaborate storytelling. So much symbolism, particularly in Sendak's illustrations, can be found in subtle detail and obvious images. From the swastikas and Star of Davids displayed and worn, to the grimacing Hitleresque organ grinder, Brundibar himself, and his nasty monkey, to the “arbeit macht frei” sign over the village and the policeman’s straight-armed salute.
Jewish and Holocaust symbolism is rampant such as hints of the gas chambers in the children’s song:
“When the winter wind came blowing
Goosy flew up high,
Daddy heard his mournful honking
We heard daddy cry.
Why goose, why goose do you fly so
If I may inquire?
If you’re feeling cold, we’ll warm you
In our oven fire.”
Sendak’s images reflect his haunting childhood memories of a nearly lost (except for his art) childhood tainted by stories of family members dying in far-off Germany in the Holocaust. While the children in this, as in so many of Sendak’s picturebooks, represent hope, resilience, and collective action, adults are not so kindly drawn. In one image, the haughty adults in town are so mercenary that their arms are filled with— and the dog’s collar even made of— dollar bills, and in an “emperor has no clothes” turn, the phumping, wheezing, horridly-off-key singing organ grinder, has fooled the adults with his rich attire as they throw money at him.
This picturebook is a fascinating tribute to the opera performed by children of Theresienstadt concentration camp during WWII— the opera front performed for the public in the model camp the Germans had created to "show the world" how kindly they had treated the Jews. Brundibar (Czech for “Bumblebee”), the original opera written by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása was staged in 1944 for representatives of the Red Cross who came to inspect living conditions in the camp; although most of what they saw was performative.
Though this book comes much later than Max, this, among so many later works, allowed Sendak to escape what he once referenced as “Kiddiebookland”, the softer, gentler illustrations of his earlier works.
January 6, 2026
I'm crying at work. My dad cries when he talks about this story and now I'm crying. I knew I'd be crying, there's no way I wouldn't be. Tony Kushner adapts the story and Maurice Sendack illustrates with very detailed and always a lil unsetting illustrations.
The holocaust is never mentioned with words. Ever. But's there in the background. This reminds me of Ulli Lust's "Voices in the Dark." Some of the children are wearing yellow stars, but no one addresses it. At one point the children walk across a bridge that crosses the entrance of the Terezin ghetto, but no one addresses it. It seems like most of the story takes place just a little outside the ghetto. Some of the grownups have scary faces and Brundibar himself takes on nightmarish qualities. You see businesses that have Jewish stars on them.
When Brundibar is defeated it feels so happy in the story but so hollow. The truth is that this story was performed as an opera by children in the Terezin ghetto, where tourists were taken to show that the NAZIs were actually humane to the Jews and show all the culture in Terezin, which was just a Potempkin village for the deadly place. In some ways, the illustrations even remind me of Bedrich Fritta's drawings.
If this is read to children, there has to be a lot of explaining before and after.
The holocaust is never mentioned with words. Ever. But's there in the background. This reminds me of Ulli Lust's "Voices in the Dark." Some of the children are wearing yellow stars, but no one addresses it. At one point the children walk across a bridge that crosses the entrance of the Terezin ghetto, but no one addresses it. It seems like most of the story takes place just a little outside the ghetto. Some of the grownups have scary faces and Brundibar himself takes on nightmarish qualities. You see businesses that have Jewish stars on them.
When Brundibar is defeated it feels so happy in the story but so hollow. The truth is that this story was performed as an opera by children in the Terezin ghetto, where tourists were taken to show that the NAZIs were actually humane to the Jews and show all the culture in Terezin, which was just a Potempkin village for the deadly place. In some ways, the illustrations even remind me of Bedrich Fritta's drawings.
If this is read to children, there has to be a lot of explaining before and after.
May 31, 2021
Two children must outwit the hurdy-gurdy man Brundibar in order to earn enough money through a street performance to buy milk for their sick mother.
This is a picture book adaptation of the children's opera “Brundibár,” written by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, which was performed by children at the Theresienstadt concentration camp (Terezín) as part of propaganda for the Red Cross and other international authorities concerned about Nazi Germany’s forced “resettlement” of its Jewish population. Tragically, almost everyone involved in its production died at Auschwitz.
The illustrator embedded the Holocaust history of the story into the artwork, creating a sinister backdrop for a tale of two children trying to help their sick mother. Characters are wearing the Star of David. Brundibar has a Hitler style mustache, and his monkey has on a military helmet.
With a terrible irony the children in the story sing about having defeated the villain Brundibar, how “the wicked never win,” and the triumph of good over evil while the real children who performed this song were murdered.
I appreciated the history behind the story and the artwork more than the story itself, which is handicapped by zany operatic lyrics comprising the dialogue.
This is a picture book adaptation of the children's opera “Brundibár,” written by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, which was performed by children at the Theresienstadt concentration camp (Terezín) as part of propaganda for the Red Cross and other international authorities concerned about Nazi Germany’s forced “resettlement” of its Jewish population. Tragically, almost everyone involved in its production died at Auschwitz.
The illustrator embedded the Holocaust history of the story into the artwork, creating a sinister backdrop for a tale of two children trying to help their sick mother. Characters are wearing the Star of David. Brundibar has a Hitler style mustache, and his monkey has on a military helmet.
With a terrible irony the children in the story sing about having defeated the villain Brundibar, how “the wicked never win,” and the triumph of good over evil while the real children who performed this song were murdered.
I appreciated the history behind the story and the artwork more than the story itself, which is handicapped by zany operatic lyrics comprising the dialogue.
March 2, 2023
A story from the eponymous Czech opera, Brundibár features Jewish children on a quest to obtain milk for their ailing mother. The villainous organ grinder, with his hatred of children, tries to prevent their success.
There are numerous nods to the unrest of Europe and the coming Holocaust as the opera was finished in 1938. Pictures show yellow stars on clothing, poverty and want, and Brundibár himself resembling Hitler. The people throw coins to him, shouting, "Bravo!" A thinly veiled allusion to the plight of the persecuted in Nazi Germany, the opera was performed in Terezin by the imprisoned children, where the composer, Hans Krása, was also imprisoned.
It takes multiple readings to notice all the layers and inferences* in this book.
Note: the pictures in the book may be unsettling to young or sensitive children; some of the characters and scenes depicted are potentially somewhat frightening (no pictures of death or war)--mainly it's the people looking creepy and ill.
*rated for the deep layers of meaning, not necessarily for the style of the pictures themselves.
There are numerous nods to the unrest of Europe and the coming Holocaust as the opera was finished in 1938. Pictures show yellow stars on clothing, poverty and want, and Brundibár himself resembling Hitler. The people throw coins to him, shouting, "Bravo!" A thinly veiled allusion to the plight of the persecuted in Nazi Germany, the opera was performed in Terezin by the imprisoned children, where the composer, Hans Krása, was also imprisoned.
It takes multiple readings to notice all the layers and inferences* in this book.
Note: the pictures in the book may be unsettling to young or sensitive children; some of the characters and scenes depicted are potentially somewhat frightening (no pictures of death or war)--mainly it's the people looking creepy and ill.
*rated for the deep layers of meaning, not necessarily for the style of the pictures themselves.
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