When bad things happen

by Jenny Robson

When the tragedy of hearing loss strikes the musician Ludwig van Beethoven, it feels like there is nothing left to live for, but he continues to write beautiful music. Illustrated by Paddy Bouma. Ages 10-14.

28 pages, paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jennifer Marion Robson (née Murray) is the first author to ever win four consecutive prizes in the Sanlam Youth Novel Competition for the novels Don’t Panic, Mechanic (1994), One Magic Moment (1996), The Denials of Kow-Ten (1998) and Because Pula Means Rain (2000).

Jenny was born and raised in Cape Town. She studied primary school teaching at the Teaching College in Mowbray and went on to study at the University of South Africa (Unisa) where she obtained her B.A. degree in Philosophy.

After two years of teaching in Simons Town, she moved to the diamond-mining town of Orapa in Botswana. She taught music there at Livingstone House for over thirty years. Jenny now lives in Maun in Botswana where she still teaches music. She is widowed and has two adult sons who live in London, UK.

Jenny loves writing for young people as she admires their spontaneity and lack of hypocrisy. Her favourite theme in her books is the utter uniqueness of the individual. She hates any form of stereotyping and sees every individual as a “never to be repeated entity.”

Reviews

[LeAnne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Beethoven’s experience of deafness is presented as an example of the stages of grief and overcoming suffering. Jenny Robson is one of my favorite writers from southern Africa, but this is not her best writing. I found the style contrived, condescending and preachy—a shame when Paddy Bouma’s period illustrations are so gorgeous.