Strange Mr. Satie

by M.T. Anderson, Petra Mathers (Illustrator)

In Paris, at the turn of the twentieth century, when artists were experimenting with new ways of seeing things, Erik Satie had something new to say about music. Most people didn't understand his pieces; critics called his music surreal. But Erik Satie didn't care. He wanted to make music that followed no rules but its own. Satie's life was strange and wonderful, frenetic and lonely all at the same time. He was friends with Picasso, and with wizards and puppeteers; he scraped himself with a stone instead of bathing, and he once threw his acrobat girlfriend out a window. Now award-winning author M. T. Anderson tells the story of the irreverent French composer in a biography that is witty, accessible, and endlessly surprising, while Petra Mathers' fanciful illustrations capture all the vibrancy that was Erik Satie's topsy-turvy world.

Illustrations by Petra Mathers.

Genres: Picture Books, Biography, Music, Nonfiction, Childrens, France, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2003

About the author

Matthew Tobin Anderson (M. T. Anderson), (1968- ) is an author, primarily of picture books for children and novels for young adults. Anderson lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

His picture books include Handel Who Knew What He Liked; Strange Mr. Satie; The Serpent Came to Gloucester; and Me, All Alone, at the End of the World. He has written such young adult books as Thirsty, Burger Wuss, Feed, The Game of Sunken Places, and Octavian Nothing. For middle grader readers, his novels include Whales on Stilts: M. T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales and its sequel, The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen.
-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this in our HS library when developing a secondary picture book library, and I found myself laughing LOUDLY, from-the-gut kind of laughing. I adore this book, and I never knew all this about Satie! I only know his most famous piano work, and I'd not have guessed he was so eccentric.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange and absurd are perfect words to describe Erik Satie's life and music. Lady Gaga's early antics seem tame compared to the things Satie did.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captivated by the wonderful cover of this book with strange "bird thoughts" swirling from Mr. Satie's head, I thought I had never heard any of his compositions. But I was wrong! When I played some of this music I found on Youtube, I discovered that I had indeed heard at least two of the compositions from CDs that my grandchildren choose to play at night to help them get to sleep. I remember thinking that I should look at the disc to discover the titles because it was so beautiful, but never did because till you got everyone settled, the lights were already off and I was stretched out on the floor enjoying the music too much to destroy the mood.
I had never really put together that there was great experimentation in all of the art forms. I was only familiar with painting and sculpture. Another one of those education gaps you discover as you explore life. As is common in a time of vast experimentation not everything survives.
Mr. Satie was indeed an unusual personality. I very much appreciated the author's efforts to bring Mr. Satie life to my attention.

[Milo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps this is the kind of book self-conscious middle-class parents buy their children in the hope that the child in question will swiftly acquire genius and not, in lieu, acquire whatever it is that David Walliams is offering instead. I am sure there is a middle-ground for this most middle-class. But do not mistake me. This book is all charm. Perhaps it is the only book about Mr Satie that Mr Satie would himself have sanctioned. I write that statement in the full knowledge that it is likely untrue. The author's note at the end I found suddenly and bizarrely moving. I have looked at Satie's various for-sale notices regarding magic castles. Why, when reading about them in the encyclopedic fashion, did this detail strike me so intensely? It seems to me that was his profession. The sale of non-existent property. Property beyond property. A very silly man. A dreamer of dreams. It seems the dreams were ever larger than the man. The castles looked back, but with them, airships. A man distending in two directions, who finds himself in the exact between.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it would be interesting to read about one of the few classical composers I like. Satie was almost certainly on the autism spectrum, and had other quirks, including violence. He was very creative and even transgressive, producing odd music/performative productions with his offbeat artsy group of friends. He lived in poverty and died young. All in all, it's a sad book, more disturbing than anything else.

[Hannah Shaffer]

We listened to Satie’s work after reading this. I thought his work, although strange for his times, sounded mild compared to modern work. It reminded me of an audio storytelling with no words or music written for a movie. We listened to Parade and each of us took turns making up different stories to go with his music and sounds. It was fun!

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastical biography of Erik Satie. It was a fun way to learn about him, but he seemed almost unreal because of the tone it took.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

We enjoyed learning about this unusual musician. We also investigated some of his music as a result.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The man was strange and as such, the book was bizarre. Unique and talented ahead of his time, I'm not even sure I think this badly tempered man should have a children's book about him...

[Stefany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read while listening to a performance of Vexations in Salt Lake City. Fascinating life

[Vera Godley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The progression of music through time has taken the listener from primitive drums to the Gregorian Chant and from there to the centuries of great classical music from artists such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Handel. But at the end of the 1800s when Erik Satie began to compose and play his music, it was seen and heard and absurd, loud, ridiculous, and strange.

Erik Satie himself was a bit of an oddity in that he didn't like the ways things were - rules for how music should be, rules for behavior in school, rules for romance, rules for how to dress. He was at odds even with the French avant-garde community of those days.

My three girls took years of piano lessons and studied music on into college. I don't recall their playing any of Satie's compositions though they did play twentieth century composers. So to see just who Erik Satie was and what his music was all about that was so absurd and disruptive, I looked him up and found a plethora of listings online of his music.

Now about this children's biography Strange Mr. Satie: Composer of the Absurd. I have reviewed another of M.T.Anderson's biographies - Handle and found that he and the illustrators do a magnificent job of presenting these people to the young child. They make it interesting, fun, and informative. And they make the Mommy or Teacher want to research further into the life of the individual and his work.


The quirky life and absurdity of Satie is well captured by Petra Mathers illustrations. The cover illustration of a Satie seated at a grand piano with a jumble of stuff emanating from the sound board interior of the piano is spot on to represent the mixture of sounds Satie incorporated into his music.

The author M.T.Anderson tells the story of Satie's sad and troubled life with an easy style in short lines of prose. He helps the reader garner a bit of an understanding that this troubled man who had a wealth of music stored inside him that was trying to be released and the difficulties he had in coping with the realities of his day.

A terrific children's biography and perhaps it could lead to a study of music styles and troubled artists.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from Candlewick Press to facilitate this review. Opinions are solely my own. I was not compensated for the review.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you know who Eric Satie is? I surely didn't. An offbeat French composer from the 1800's who wrote odd and misunderstood music, this is the story of his life. The quirky images are surrealistic and might not appeal to all readers. But those that are drawn to the uncommon will surely enjoy it!

Satie was born in 1866 and he "never grew up but was always a child with an old man's smile". He wanted to create something unlike the conventional, something that followed only his rules. When he was a young man, he lived in Paris and socialized with painters and poets, people that would not laugh at his music. He met, befriended and fell in love with an artist and model who already had a boyfriend. But Satie did not care and tagged along with them to social events, which irritated the boyfriend. It is here in the story that we learn about Satie's temper and, on night, he throws Suzanne, the woman, out his window! Luckily, she was an acrobat and landed safely, but never saw Satie again. He spent most of his life penniless, making and loosing friends. He finally returned to school in 1905 to learn music. Still, the people did not understand his music and yelled through a ballet he had written. Before getting sick he wrote a ballet that was received with excellent reviews.

As strange as this man's life was (and the details told in the book) I enjoyed it. I read different reviews, one saying it was for grades 1-3, another 3-5. I'm not sure how I would use this book, perhaps with a small group of students. It is a good example of a person who did not let societies pressures change him.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love many of M.T. Anderson's books, so I was hoping that this wouldn't disapoint. This is the kind of Anderson story I like. The writing is sparing and eloquent. He writes in a manner that allows a story to be understood, without sacrificing any of the artistry of true poetic form. I didn't know who Eric Satie was, but I'm finding that the more I read the more I realize I don't know. Anyway, of the many picture book biographies that I've been reading lately, this is probably my favorite. Not only was the book written at an exceptional level; the illustrations including the endpages were great. If you have the opportunity, read the quotes lavishly draped over the endpages. They are quite interesting, in an oddball style.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange Mr. Satie is a biography aimed at elementary school aged readers. It covers the life, career and death of the very unconventional composer Erik Satie (1866 - 1925).

In 40 pages, M. T. Anderson's straightforward text and Petra Mathers's whimsical illustrations paint the the life of Strange Mr. Satie. The narrative I found a little dry but I thoroughly enjoyed the illustrations.

I think younger readers will find the simple vocabulary very approachable. Whatever they don't understand they'll get from the illustrations. I was certainly entertained and educated enough to want to seek out more information on Erik Satie.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A children's picture biography on the eccentric French composer, Erik Satie, whose musical works and performances would influence numerous twentieth century avant-garde movements.

Charming and informative. Wondered though--in the world of children's books, where the amazing and the weird are more commonplace than the bland or banal, is Satie so extraordinary? Would a more realistic approach to the illustrations, emphasizing the fact that unlike in fairy stories, the things in this book actually happened, be more effective at capturing young readers' interest?

[nananatte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satie was truly strange, but his music is so pure and beautiful.
His life was so tough... that i cant believe that the storyteller and illustrator could make it in such adorable way, explaining Satie's situation with simple words.
When kids read this, they surely question why adults do not like Satie's music at that time... and that is the good start to get attention from them to learn and love music.

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange book mostly because it is about a very strange man. If you have young patrons interested in music, composers, or music innovation, this would be a good book to have, otherwise it might be a hard sell for readers due to not only the odd contents, but the odd, almost prose-like text.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This artist is one of my favorite composers, and in this book, his story is told like a poem, a bit or word art amid a very sad story of a crazed and penniless artist. It is beautifully done, this book. I would recommend it to a rd or 4th grader, a biography lover, a tortured artist. Truly lovely.

[Dest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satie was a French composer kooky enough to seem totally made up (but I checked and he's real). This is a great light biography that might interest K-3 graders who are a little whacky themselves, particularly if they're into music and/or able to appreciate really great writing.

[Miss Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a strange little story! Could be used in an introduction to the autism spectrum and/or music history.

The art was nice to look at and didn't confuse me or give me headaches - so that's good.

[Renae · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming picture-book biography of Erik Satie, the unconventional composer.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Petra Mathers' illustrations perfectly captured this odd man's life.

[Tressa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming children's book about the (truly) strange composer, Satie.