Apt. 3: 08/02/13

Apt. 3 by Ezra Jack Keats is about a pair of brothers, Sam and Ben, who hear mysterious music coming into their apartment. They decide to follow the sound to figure out who is playing it.

The hunt through the apartment building gives Keats the opportunity to explore the community that is within the walls of an apartment building. It's comprised of different ages, different ethnicities and different talents.

The search for the music results in the boys coming to know their neighbors better. Children reading the book are introduced to a multicultural cast as well as a blind musician. They will see how he's perfectly capable of living on his own and of making beautiful music. The book could be used as a starting point to introduce real life blind musicians, like Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, or Nobuyuki Tsujii.

Three stars

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Saturday, August 03, 2013 at 03:34:26

M. L. Liu

Hi, I came upon this book review while looking for news of Nobuyuki Tsujii. I am delighted that he is mentioned along with Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. It is amazing that a Japanese 24-year old classical pianist has gotten so well known so quickly.

This sounds like an interesting book. I hope many kids will read it.

Comment #2: Sunday, August 04, 2013 at 15:57:26

Pussreboots

Keats best known book is The Snowy Day. I hope to get all of his picture books reviewed.