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The Orphan Singer
Nina is born to a poor but loving family that can't bear to see their daughter's gift for music go to waste. So they make the difficult decision to give her up to the care of the famous Pieta orphanage in Venice. There her talent will be nurtured under the tutelage of Vivaldi himself. Everything goes according to plan until one day Nina is faced with her own difficult decision. Should she risk expulsion to sing for a dying boy whom she feels is family? Here is a powerful story about the different paths to bravery and the many ways to be a family . . . McCully at her best.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2001
43 people want to read
About the author
Emily Arnold McCully
191 books75 followersEmily Arnold McCully received the Caldecott Medal for Mirette on the High Wire. The illustrator of more than 40 books for young readers, she divides her time between Chatham, New York, and New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 18, 2024
"In the 'ospedalo,' foundling girls received the best musical training in Europe. But the school accepted only orphaned babies. Later the talented ones were picked for the choral school."
I learned something! And the art is well-done; the story is good. This is a keeper. The Author's Note provides additional, and much-appreciated, information.
2024
Easily a 4-star book -- maybe even 5.
I learned something! And the art is well-done; the story is good. This is a keeper. The Author's Note provides additional, and much-appreciated, information.
2024
Easily a 4-star book -- maybe even 5.
August 28, 2013
Liked the subject of this book: the Pieta orphanage in Vienna. The storyline itself was weak.
April 20, 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction
Audience: 6+
A poor family in Venice in the early eighteenth century does not have the means to provide singing lessons or teachings to their children. They decide that the best way to provide this is to send her to the ospedalo and hope that she is permitted to the choral school. She becomes a operatic singer and tours opera houses, but is also reunited to her family and takes care of them.
1. This story takes place in the early eighteenth century in Venice.
2. This story is told in the third person narrative. This allows the narrating to explain all of the details of the story, while also sounding unbiased to any of the characters. It allows the narrator to explain the emotions of various characters without the lens of one of the other characters.
Audience: 6+
A poor family in Venice in the early eighteenth century does not have the means to provide singing lessons or teachings to their children. They decide that the best way to provide this is to send her to the ospedalo and hope that she is permitted to the choral school. She becomes a operatic singer and tours opera houses, but is also reunited to her family and takes care of them.
1. This story takes place in the early eighteenth century in Venice.
2. This story is told in the third person narrative. This allows the narrating to explain all of the details of the story, while also sounding unbiased to any of the characters. It allows the narrator to explain the emotions of various characters without the lens of one of the other characters.
December 3, 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade Level: K-2
I thought that this book was very sweet. It shows how the poor people struggled in history and the lengths they would go through to make a child not suffer. This book is very detailed and very well illustrated. I would recommend this book to anyone who is teaching about ancient Italy, or anyone who enjoys singing.
Grade Level: K-2
I thought that this book was very sweet. It shows how the poor people struggled in history and the lengths they would go through to make a child not suffer. This book is very detailed and very well illustrated. I would recommend this book to anyone who is teaching about ancient Italy, or anyone who enjoys singing.
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December 3, 2016Brief Review:
I felt that this was a very sad book. It was a historical fiction book based in Italy in the 1700s. In the book, a family decided to give up their daughter to the orphanage in order for her to be able to be taught to sing because they realized that she was very gifted. I think I would use this for a somewhat older audience of children because the concept of a family giving up their child may be hard to grasp for some. I thought that the book had a much deeper plot than some children's books it just happened to be sad but good at the same time.
Content Area:
This book definitely ties in the strong connection of family. Though the family gave Catarina up, they did so in order that she may have a better education in the musical realm and they always came to visit her. Because of this, she has a distinct tie with the family and they help influence her to be good at the ospedalo, or orphanage. To connect with the story, you could have students pick someone they feel has greatly influenced them and helped them and then write about how they have done that. The book is also greatly influenced by Venetian choral culture in the orphanage. It talks about the different altos and sopranos and how they practiced arpeggios and high notes. It also talks about the different maestros they helped accompany. You could use this in a music theory class in order to test high school students on the master composers of that period and famous pieces of the time.
Comprehension Questions:
1. Did this book give you any new ideas about yourself? Why?
I realized with this book how blessed I am to have a family that never gives up on me. They always support me and I know I can go to them at any time. In this book, although she figured out who her family was, she was unable to visit them at all at first and then infrequently later in life.
2. What lesson did you learn from the story?
I learned that sometimes you have to give something up in order for that person to pursue their dreams and talents. It must have been extremely difficult for the Dolci's to give up their daughter and sister but they knew that she would have a better life if they did.
Wonders:
Did Catarina ever marry or become free of the ospedalo?
Were the children in the ospedalo taught to sing in different languages than their native tongue like we do today?
I felt that this was a very sad book. It was a historical fiction book based in Italy in the 1700s. In the book, a family decided to give up their daughter to the orphanage in order for her to be able to be taught to sing because they realized that she was very gifted. I think I would use this for a somewhat older audience of children because the concept of a family giving up their child may be hard to grasp for some. I thought that the book had a much deeper plot than some children's books it just happened to be sad but good at the same time.
Content Area:
This book definitely ties in the strong connection of family. Though the family gave Catarina up, they did so in order that she may have a better education in the musical realm and they always came to visit her. Because of this, she has a distinct tie with the family and they help influence her to be good at the ospedalo, or orphanage. To connect with the story, you could have students pick someone they feel has greatly influenced them and helped them and then write about how they have done that. The book is also greatly influenced by Venetian choral culture in the orphanage. It talks about the different altos and sopranos and how they practiced arpeggios and high notes. It also talks about the different maestros they helped accompany. You could use this in a music theory class in order to test high school students on the master composers of that period and famous pieces of the time.
Comprehension Questions:
1. Did this book give you any new ideas about yourself? Why?
I realized with this book how blessed I am to have a family that never gives up on me. They always support me and I know I can go to them at any time. In this book, although she figured out who her family was, she was unable to visit them at all at first and then infrequently later in life.
2. What lesson did you learn from the story?
I learned that sometimes you have to give something up in order for that person to pursue their dreams and talents. It must have been extremely difficult for the Dolci's to give up their daughter and sister but they knew that she would have a better life if they did.
Wonders:
Did Catarina ever marry or become free of the ospedalo?
Were the children in the ospedalo taught to sing in different languages than their native tongue like we do today?
July 3, 2010
The Orphan Singer is a grand, emotional story about a poor family of street performers living in Italy during the 1800s. The boy of the family is a singer non pareil, but with no money to aid the expansion of his abilities, his parents know that their son will never reach the pinnacle of his art form. When a second child with powerful singing ability is born to the family, a girl named Nina, the new baby's mother and father decide that they cannot allow another musical virtuoso to fade away before ever getting the chance to truly bloom. They leave her at an Italian orphanage that has one of the country's finest music programs, knowing that even though they will have to give up their only daughter, she will now be brought up as well as she deserves.
Music is always the link that ties Nina to her family, a link unhindered by the thick stone walls blocking her off from the outside world. Nina grows into a child of the utmost vocal skill, rising high above her peers and showing that she has the potential to be greater than all of them. When Nina begins performing for the public, she meets a nice family after the shows, a family that she doesn't know is actually hers, though they know it. The reality of the situation must be kept a secret from Nina, because only foundlings are kept at the orphanage, and only by remaining there can Nina finish her music education that will give her the ability to become a great singer.
When Nina's family doesn't come to greet her one day as they customarily do, she finds out that their son (her brother, in reality) is deathly ill, and she will not ever see him again. Nina has to make a wrenching decision: Will she leave the orphanage and thereby be expelled from its music program to go with the people who have become like family to her?
Once again, Emily Arnold McCully has done a good job of weaving a captivating narrative thread through the confines of an historically interesting time period, and the results are very favorable. The characters in The Orphan Singer are easy to sympathize with, and the story's emotion is completely real and deeply felt. I would give two and a half stars to this book, and I nearly rounded it up rather than down.
Music is always the link that ties Nina to her family, a link unhindered by the thick stone walls blocking her off from the outside world. Nina grows into a child of the utmost vocal skill, rising high above her peers and showing that she has the potential to be greater than all of them. When Nina begins performing for the public, she meets a nice family after the shows, a family that she doesn't know is actually hers, though they know it. The reality of the situation must be kept a secret from Nina, because only foundlings are kept at the orphanage, and only by remaining there can Nina finish her music education that will give her the ability to become a great singer.
When Nina's family doesn't come to greet her one day as they customarily do, she finds out that their son (her brother, in reality) is deathly ill, and she will not ever see him again. Nina has to make a wrenching decision: Will she leave the orphanage and thereby be expelled from its music program to go with the people who have become like family to her?
Once again, Emily Arnold McCully has done a good job of weaving a captivating narrative thread through the confines of an historically interesting time period, and the results are very favorable. The characters in The Orphan Singer are easy to sympathize with, and the story's emotion is completely real and deeply felt. I would give two and a half stars to this book, and I nearly rounded it up rather than down.
May 17, 2012
This beautiful picture book is a wonderful "read aloud" story for young children as well as a great introduction to the long-lost culture of the Venetian ospedali. The book does not attempt to be an historical documentary, but rather a touching story that will appeal to little ones' sensibilities. The author's note at the end accurately explains the history behind the story, which parents can gradually explain to children as their interest develops.
What a marvelous companion this book would be to an introduction of Vivaldi's "musical story" about nature and the changing seasons. In my experience as a music teacher, children love "acting out" the birds, thunder storms, etc. while listening to the Four Seasons. The story-like quality of that musical masterpiece finds its counterpart in "The Orphan Singer," which educates while entertaining.
What a marvelous companion this book would be to an introduction of Vivaldi's "musical story" about nature and the changing seasons. In my experience as a music teacher, children love "acting out" the birds, thunder storms, etc. while listening to the Four Seasons. The story-like quality of that musical masterpiece finds its counterpart in "The Orphan Singer," which educates while entertaining.
February 1, 2018
This story tells about one "orphaned" girl who grew up in an ospedalo, a musical orphanage. You'll learn about many children were musically trained and grew to be the greats in the opera houses of the eighteenth century.
Ages: 5 - 8
Cleanliness: the little girl doesn't always obey.
**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it! Visit my website: The Book Radar.
Ages: 5 - 8
Cleanliness: the little girl doesn't always obey.
**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it! Visit my website: The Book Radar.
August 13, 2010
Based on historical fact, Venetian ospedales took in orphaned girls to train for musical performances. They were exposed to the best education, professors, and music Italy had to offer during the early 18th century.
This is the story of young Nina, whose family brought her to the ospedale to allow her musical destiny to be realized. Nina 'remembers' her family and is devoted to them nonetheless.
Used for "An Actor's Life for Me!: Sing, Act, Dance" Storytime- October, 2010
This is the story of young Nina, whose family brought her to the ospedale to allow her musical destiny to be realized. Nina 'remembers' her family and is devoted to them nonetheless.
Used for "An Actor's Life for Me!: Sing, Act, Dance" Storytime- October, 2010
March 29, 2007
Historical fiction tells of the life of the girls of the Pieta, where Vivaldi was the musical director and girls received the finest musical training in Europe. Beautifully illustrated by the author.
August 12, 2011
Interesting history and story! It would be so heartbreaking to give up your child in order to let him or her develop a talent! And I like the fact that Nina not only developed her musical talent, but grew in character, too, showing selflessness and love towards her family.
January 14, 2012
This book is a good example to children of how a family sacrifices for each other out of love. It also portrayed a family in a different culture of a lower economic status which many students could relate to in America today.
January 12, 2012
I really like this book because its shows the importance of a family connection. I also like it because the theme isn't directly stated, but woven throughout the book.
October 17, 2014
This is a book I would love to add to my personal collection. It is beautiful and tells a story about education for girls in a time when there weren't many options for them.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews