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kitsuneheart's review against another edition
5.0
Visually stunning. I'm shocked to find this book wasn't up for the Caldecott, at least as an honor book. Each page is full of detail and beauty, from the collage construction and use of geometric patterns to create color and shading, to the calligraphy that is the focus of the story. It's quite disappointing to find this was shunned.
This book is mostly about Ali, a boy who loves practicing calligraphy. There are a few pages that mention the American invasion of Iraq and Ali's reaction to the bombings, which leads to a very poignant ending: the calligraphy for war is so easy, but that for peace is so hard to write.
A good book to humanize those we often merely label as the "enemy." We grow to know Ali as a diligent schoolboy before we know him as a war survivor. A stark reminder of what it is we do when we drop diplomacy in favor of arms.
This book is mostly about Ali, a boy who loves practicing calligraphy. There are a few pages that mention the American invasion of Iraq and Ali's reaction to the bombings, which leads to a very poignant ending: the calligraphy for war is so easy, but that for peace is so hard to write.
A good book to humanize those we often merely label as the "enemy." We grow to know Ali as a diligent schoolboy before we know him as a war survivor. A stark reminder of what it is we do when we drop diplomacy in favor of arms.
crystal_reading's review against another edition
4.0
Great picture of a young boy in Baghdad. It shows the rich culture of the boy and includes a legend. The war is part of the story, but not the main focus.
jessalynn_librarian's review against another edition
3.0
This one won at the Mock Caldecott I attended - and while I can appreciate its strengths, it just didn't appeal to me as much as some of the others. I really liked the use of patterns in the illustrations, but it felt a little busy. The story is timely, but it felt a little over-ambitious in terms of trying to cram in too many themes. Great colors and details, though.
faeriedrumsong's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful and heartbreaking. The takeaway that choked me up?
War is very easy to write; Peace takes a lot of practice.
Words to live by...
War is very easy to write; Peace takes a lot of practice.
Words to live by...
prophecygrrl's review against another edition
2.0
The illustrations are lovely and the overview of Islamic calligraphy was interesting, but the anti-war message felt a little forced.
beththebookdragon's review against another edition
3.0
A story of a boy in modern-day Baghdad, Iraq, whose passion is calligraphy (though he also enjoys soccer and music).
Lovely cut-paper-style illustrations with layers of Arabic-influenced patterns and of course calligraphy.
A well-told story with the inevitable mention of the war and the boy's feelings about writing the words for "war" & "peace."
Not exciting for children (I'm sure few will identify with a calligraphy geek), but interesting and a good "learn about a child in Iraq" story.
Lovely cut-paper-style illustrations with layers of Arabic-influenced patterns and of course calligraphy.
A well-told story with the inevitable mention of the war and the boy's feelings about writing the words for "war" & "peace."
Not exciting for children (I'm sure few will identify with a calligraphy geek), but interesting and a good "learn about a child in Iraq" story.
jcroom's review against another edition
Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad, tells the story of Ali, a boy that is much like other boys in his city. He likes to play soccer in the streets, listen to music and dance, but there is one thing that sets Ali apart from the other kids, he enjoys the art of calligraphy. Ali gets lost in his art of writing calligraphy, and uses it as a form of escape. Calligraphy is his silent music that drowns out the war going on outside his door. This story brings together many different elements, connecting cultures, as well as connecting the past to the present. The book is filled with lively images of Ali and his family, as well as pictures and diagrams that give the reader a better idea of his culture. The background images were filled with example of Arabic text and give the reader a better understanding of their writing system. For many students this type of text is completely new and different. The letters used in Arabic are different than what we see here in the English language. Also, they write from right to left, where as we write from left to right. I really enjoyed the fact that there were so many little cultural details given throughout the story. There were images of different aspects of their culture such as, soccer, their money, different words.
This book would be great for K-3 grade readers. It is interesting and engaging enough to keep their attention, and the illustrations were insightful and provided a lot of extra information that wasn’t detailed in the text. This would be a good book to look at if you were going into a unit on cursive or calligraphy. It gives students a better understanding of different styles of writing.
Rumford, J. (2008). Silent music: A story of Baghdad. New York: Roaring Brook Press.