The Stories of Musical Instruments

by Štěpánka Sekaninová, Jakub Cenkl

A comprehensive overview of the origin of the world’s best-known musical instruments, presenting many fascinating facts along the way. Niccolo the cricket would like to become a musician. But which instrument should he start with? The violin? The guitar? The trumpet? All at once? Well, he does have six limbs, so why not? In any case, Niccolo and his trusty companion Luciano the nightingale travel the world as they learn about musical instruments of all kinds, from simple drums to the most sophisticated church organs. Do you know what didgeridoo, shamisen, or vozembouch are? Would you rather become a member of symphony orchestra or a rock band? Let´s find out! If you are interested in music at least a little, join Niccolo and Luciano and learn the stories of musical instruments along with them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens

68 pages, Hardcover

Published May 25, 2021

Reviews

[Nichole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really cool. I'm not sure we needed the characters to guide us through, though. I think the information was great on its own.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the history of musical instruments around the world with short bios about famous musicians and composers. My favorite part is the development of the piano since I am a pianist. There are sections about rock bands, percussion, woodwinds, string orchestras, jazz bands, brass bands, and military bands. There are chapters about beautiful instruments from India, Russia, Scotland, Mongolia, China, Japan, and Africa.

I loved the cute illustrations in this book! The artwork really brings the history to life. There are a cricket and a songbird who pop up in every page exploring the different types of instruments.
I like that the design has small paragraphs of text so that it is easy to read and absorb the snippets of information. As a musician, I really appreciated all the music history, the explanations about types of music, the nature of sounds for each instrument, and how different styles developed.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

[Ilana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a very useful support in explaining children the different musical instruments, as well as introducing a bit of musical history. It can be easily used in the classroom, preferably accompanied by audio and video samples of different instruments.It convenes practical information but I would have love more creative takes and a story-oriented approach.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll give this book one and a half stars. I did enjoy the book initially but the author seems to have added what I consider a racist element to the stories of instruments.

[L.A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not “unuseful,” but really hard to get through. I think as someone else said, the characters were a bit too much.