The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay
By Susan Hood
Illustrator Sally Wern Comport
4Rbooks 6/6 grades 3-8
Amazon 4.9/5 preschool-3
School Library Journal 2-5
Goodreads 4.38
Common Sense Media Not Yet Reviewed
36 pages
Synopsis
Ada is 11 years old. She lives in the city of Catuera, a slum outside the capital of Paraguay. The area around her city is used as the capitals dump. Tons of trash are dropped into landfill near her home every day. The majority of the people work as recyclers. Rummaging through the trash for cardboard, plastic, and treasures.
Ada dreams for a bigger and better life. Her family loves to listen to music and sing along. He dad details the different instruments and Ada falls in love with the violin. She knows it is just a fantasy to think she could learn how to play, but then there is an announcement on the wall of the town. Someone is offering music lessons, including the violin.
Ada and her sister go to the lesson but there is a problem. There aren’t enough instruments for all the children. The teacher, Senor Chavez, devised a solution. The would dig through the trash and learn how to make their own instruments from the discarded material.
The children practiced on the hand-made instruments and soon learned to play them very well. Ada was chosen as the first chair violinist. Their numbers started to swell, and as they got better and better, they were invited to give concerts at the capital, and then later, around the world. They even performed as the opening acts for a rock band (Metallica).
Parental Guidelines
Nothing inappropriate or scary.
Recommendation
I don’t normally review picture books since my target reading group is 4th to 8th grade students. Picture books are usually associated with primary readers, as evidenced by the ages level advised by Amazon (I put in the School Library Journal rating to provide contrast). I will occasionally start adding picture book reviews on this blog because many are written beyond the ranges of K-2 readers and deal with topics that middle to upper grade students would find interesting.
The pictures in this book are amazing and it’s an inspiring story. Would be a great read-aloud for a teacher, music teacher, or parent whose children are involved in music. It is based on a true story and a true group of children. The back pages give more details and provide links to websites and videos about the group.
I found this book at the Musical Instrument Museum of Phoenix, a great place to visit if you are ever in the area.
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