Morpurgo tears, again

It must be because I’m old that Michael Morpurgo makes me cry. I persuaded someone to give me a copy of The Mozart Question after I spied it in the young reviewers’ pile at Simply Books. I wasn’t prepared to wait my turn with this.

The Mozart Question is this year’s Christmas offering. Lovely short story with beautiful pictures. The story is about the concentration camp musicians from the second world war. Those who could play an instrument to professional level were sometimes spared instant death and had to play music instead. Sometimes to camp officers, sometimes to other prisoners, to calm them down.

It’s a well known enough scenario, but it’s how Michael tells the story that makes the difference. It’s supposedly a straight tale of an interview with a famous Italian violin player, but it has many layers to it. As it’s a small and fairly cheap book I would hope lots of children will receive it for Christmas. It’s the kind of book I like to stock up on to have as a beautiful gift.