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A review by tcbueti
Broken Strings by Eric Walters, Kathy Kacer
5.0
Although I initially found the gushy voice of narrator Shirli annoying, and the writing in the first few chapters was a bit clunky, this book won me over once Shirli's widowed Zayde entered the picture. Their relationship was so devoted and caring, and the way he revealed his story, slowly and with both hesitation and courage, added both suspense and depth to this story. (He would have died with his secrets if Shirli hadn't come across the violin and poster in his attic, which he had told his wife to destroy.) The painful loss of his entire family and, thus, of his love for music, and the healing afforded by both sharing his secrets and helping Shirli and her castmates present "Fiddler on the Roof", is a moving tribute to the power of music. The connection Zayde made between his experience and to post 9/11 profiling and prejudice was striking and solid, and his desire to extend support to others was brave and inspiring.
Zayde is an amazing character. His exploration of Ben, who is not Jewish, playing Tevye and liking his granddaughter, leads to a gentle cast-wide talk with/about another student, Mohammed, and to Zayde's new friend, who is a Hindu. Zayde even encourages the not-great fiddler on the roof of this show, by sharing his own violin.
It helped to be familiar with the show--sometimes I wished they would include more of the lyrics, but maybe they couldn't get permission. Anyway, presenting this to a class could lead to lots of deep discussions about the historical events and differences, which should definitely include clips from the show.
The two authors have lots of books to their credit. Kathy Kacer has written several books about the Holocaust, and has kids who perform--those stage details were spot on.
Moving and timely book about family, history, differences and music.
Zayde is an amazing character. His exploration of Ben, who is not Jewish, playing Tevye and liking his granddaughter, leads to a gentle cast-wide talk with/about another student, Mohammed, and to Zayde's new friend, who is a Hindu. Zayde even encourages the not-great fiddler on the roof of this show, by sharing his own violin.
It helped to be familiar with the show--sometimes I wished they would include more of the lyrics, but maybe they couldn't get permission. Anyway, presenting this to a class could lead to lots of deep discussions about the historical events and differences, which should definitely include clips from the show.
The two authors have lots of books to their credit. Kathy Kacer has written several books about the Holocaust, and has kids who perform--those stage details were spot on.
Moving and timely book about family, history, differences and music.