Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this beautiful fairytale from the Julie Andrews Collection is about a musician who wants to be more worthy of his lady's love and the lessons he learns as he tries to find his own music. Nothing objectionable is presented.
Families can talk about why Simeon felt he had to find his own music. How would that make him worthier? Or happier? Why did the music of the city sound so discordant to him? Do you think he should have given up his lute altogether? What were the lessons he learned on the way back home and how did they help him find his way? Why is this book called Simeon's Gift? What gifts did he bring back home with him? This might also be a good time to explore life in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: the music, art, clothing, abbeys, cathedrals, and castles with their tapestries.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Patricia Tauzer
It's refreshing to find such a remarkable book as SIMEON'S GIFT, a true fairytale with its rich poetic text interwoven with such amazing illustrations. The story itself is a classical quest tale of a young man going out in search of himself. He encounters lessons along the way and ultimately finds that the secret lies within himself and in the natural world around him.
This simple, gentle tale is enriched both by the figurative language in which it is told and the amazing watercolor illustrations that hang like medieval tapestries on every page. Scattered with words not often found in kids books, like "encampment," "invigorated," and "caucophany" as well as similes, metaphors, and alliterations, the story becomes magical and musical.
The watercolor illustrations of Russian artist Gennady Spirin further enhance the music and the magic. Brilliant even in the paperback edition, each one is a masterpiece in detail, color, and technique, and brings to mind the work of the Renaissance masters. Spirin is well-known for his elegant watercolors and has received numerous awards for his work with children's books.
Because of its magnificently beautiful illustrations, the hard cover edition of Simeon's Gift might be the better purchase, especially since it also includes a CD of the story being read by Dame Julie Andrews herself. Both editions are part of the Julie Andrews Collection, which under the umbrella of "Words, Wisdom and Wonder" includes "new works by established and emerging authors, out-of-print gems worthy of resurrection," as well as books by Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Hamilton.
From The Book
Enchanted by their sound, he cut a sturdy reed from the riverbank and began to fashion a flute. As he carved and whittled each day, an intriguing melody stirred in his head. Each evening, nightingales, crickets, owls, and bullfrogs inspired harmonies that wove through his mind like the strands of mist that creep across the river before dawn.
Plot Summary:
In the hopes of becoming more worthy of his lady Sorrel's love, Simeon, a humble musician, sets off to learn more of the world so that he can create songs of his own rather than simply singing those of others. His adventures meander through the countryside until he final reaches the city, where the sounds and songs overwhelm him and, in despair, he gives up his lute altogether and heads back home.
On the journey home, with the companionship of a bird, fish, and a fawn, he gradually finds himself again and, of course, he and Sorrel live happily ever after.
Related Books:
Other books in the Julie Andrews Collection
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles
Little Bo
The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan and Laurel Long
Other Books Illustrated by Gennady Spirin
The Christmas Story
Once There Was a Tree
Books about Medieval Times and the Renaissance
Castles: Medieval Days and Knights by Kyle Olmon
Leonardo da Vinci by Diane Stanley
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual Content |
 |
|||
Violence |
|
|||
Language |
|
|||
Message |
|
|||
Social Behavior |
 |
|||
Commercialism |
|
|||
Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco |
|
|||
