The Mozart Season
by Virginia Euwer Wolff
published
July 10th 2007
(first published 1993)
by Square Fish
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binding
Paperback, 256 pages
isbn
0312367457
(isbn13: 9780312367459)
description
When Allegra was a little girl, she thought that the music was hidden inside her violin. Now that she is 12, she believes the music is in her fingers,...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 96)
Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
People who like classical music
The story is based on Allegra Shapiro, a twelve year old violinist. One day, she gets into a competition, but she loses. Her friend, Mr. Trouble is trying to identify a song he has in his head. At the end of the story, he identifies the song with Allegra's help. Allegra is happy for Mr.Trouble and forgets her disappointment with the competition.
I especially liked the book because it was written in first person. I was able to understand the feelings of a good violinist. For example, whe...more
I especially liked the book because it was written in first person. I was able to understand the feelings of a good violinist. For example, whe...more
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Read in September, 2008
Again, a book I chose to read for my Humanities class. They all seem to be the same: the beginning irritates me, and barely manages to hold my attention, but by the end I'm crying and smiling about the way it has progressed. This story is about a girl Allegra Shapiro and her summer journey through training for a violin competition. It definitely made me want to pick up my flute, or sax, or guitar, or even plunk away at the piano. I found I could relate by the end when she finally decides to play...more
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The protagonist of this book is a 12-year-old girl by the name Allegra. At first, she thinks negatively about being a violinist because it's just an instrument. She thought that music was made by just moving the bow. Her life changes as she finds out that music is much more than the instrument, but the person itself. She discovers that her music was made not by the violin or the bow, but by herself.
This book was pretty decent considering how I don't normally read books like this. I could conne...more
This book was pretty decent considering how I don't normally read books like this. I could conne...more
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Read in June, 2000
I picked this book up from a sale at my elementary school when I was eleven, mostly because I was a musician and it was a book about a girl who was a musician. Since then, I've read it at least once a year. I don't even know if I've told anyone about it, just because it has come to be so special to me, and I'm kind of afraid if I start talking about it with someone else it will change the book. But there you have it; a little book for young adults, written beautifully, with all kinds of little n...more
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Read in March, 2008
I play the violin, but as violin players go, I'm totally a hack (I'm one of those adult amateurs that Allegra's teacher warns her about because they always play the sixteenth notes too fast). I read this book a few years ago, and the idea of great music being a lessening of the distance between the composer and musician resonated with me a lot. After this reading, I think what will stick in my head is what Deidre said, about how in music you have to simultaneously remember everything, and forg...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
those who like good stories
This story takes place in Portland over the course of a summer. The very simple premise is that life takes on seasons, and for Allegra this summer will be a Mozart season as she prepares for a competition. We watch Mozart and Allegra affect each other and meet wonderful characters who have also been deeply changed by the role of music in their lives. My favorite is the homeless man who lost his "Waltz Tree" many years ago and travels from one free city concert to the next looking for i...more
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recommends it for:
anybody who wants to discover the meaning of life and music
This is my new favorite book. the pressure that Allegra has to live under si so immense and I can definitely relate to it. her deep and heartwrenching discoverys about herself and life in general, had me in tears to the last page. (Although the book really isn't that sad, it is to me, cuz I once aspired to be a violinist, but, like her, i was devastated whrn i found that the instrument didn't contain the music, and that more had to be done, than simply move the bow.) Allegra is deep and passiona...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
everyone especally musicians
really great book, I think the fact that i am a musician it means so much more. I love Allegra's accomplishments and happy attitude, I love Mr. Trouble and how he lost his song, Deirde is wierd but loving and kind, Mr. Kaplan seems like the greatest music teacher ever. In this book Allegra is chosen a finalist in the boch compitition where they are to play Mozrarts fourth concerto she ends up meeting wonderful people and learning that everything isn't just about life and death
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What is it with this book? Just a girl with a quirky family, trying to decide what's important life. No obvious plot. Just oatmeal recipes and comics and Karen Karen with dowdy jeans and a man who's lost his song, and an Opera singer with a haunting past, and a green faced man. Just life.
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I am still reading this book, but I can already tell you that it is very good. It is about a young musician who is trying to win a violin competition while trying to understand some very complicated mysterys going on in her life.
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
Musicians
Loved loved loved this book. I could relate to it since I play viola and have entered competitions. I love the part where Allegra finds the "Waltz Tree" for the old man. If you are a musician, read this book!
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Read in May, 2008
This is a niche book-kids who aren't into playing an instrument might have trouble identifying will Allegra. As an adult, I enjoyed stepping inside the mind of a girl who takes her violin very seriously.
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Read in October, 2007
"That's why we're here. On this planet. To make music"
This book inspires me to become a better musician. A better violinist specifically. :D
Mozart is love. :D WOLFGANG!!!
This book inspires me to become a better musician. A better violinist specifically. :D
Mozart is love. :D WOLFGANG!!!
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2 comments
Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
overacheiving 8-yr-olds
Why would the Strand put this in the teen LGBT section? Anyway it was a nice YA book, but there were no lesbians to speak of. I think I was in YA general back-stock by mistake.
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Great story of a young violinist! Allegra Shapiro has her whole summer planned out - until she finds out she made it into the finals of a big competition for young musicians.
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this book is very instresting, Allegra learns more about her and about mozart more than what she knew before. She reaches out and tries out something that she's afraid of.
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recommends it for:
JAF Wol
Wolff, Virginia PB
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