The Music Inside Me

by Marvin Elementary School Students, Bill Henderson (Illustrator)

This book is a winner in the annual Scholastic, Inc. "Kids Are Authors" competition. It is bright, colorful, and shiny cover to cover. It's a story about children who befriend a lonely, old man whose arthritis has deprived him of his career as a world-renowned cellist. Predictably, the old man teaches the children lessons about life, associating memories with "music in the heart." The book's bright and bold colors and heartwarming story should be captivating to elementary-age children. One can't help but smile while reading this book. 8"x10"x1/8"

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written and illustrated by fourth and fifth grade students, “The Music Inside Me” is the charming tale of a group of children who believe the old man who lives beside the sea is creepy. But they soon learn that Charlie Blaine, for that is the man’s name, has an intriguing story of his own to share with them.

With a Lexile Level of AD800, independent fifth grader readers are apt to have little difficulty reading the book; the Adult Directed rating, that is, the adult reading the book to the child, allows lower level readers or younger readers to enjoy this student-written story.

Emotional, heartfelt, and compassionate, the story speaks of aging, of memory, of things past and things to come, and of the music that lives in everyone’s heart. Delightful, child-drawn, colorful illustrations accompany the narrative. Every parent should share this book with his or her children.

Highly recommended.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m really having a hard day imagining this book being written by fourth and fifth graders! It’s just THAT we’ll written!

The story is about young kids dared to go talk to the creepy old man. As with many stories like it, they find out he’s not so creepy. But, it’s extremely well written and could easily be made into a movie. I can see why it was chosen as a Studentd Are Authors award book.

My students were really into the book and made some amazing connections to other stories we had read during the year. Knowing that they were building connections and the story itself almost had me bawling in a room full of third graders.

[Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet descriptive story of a lesson of the heart. These 4th grade authors did a great job. My only criticism was that I don't like that they used word 'hate' but I'm a fuddy duddy in that way and it was only used once. The overwhelming feeling of love prevails through the rest of the book. I had to hold back the tears because it tends to upset my kids when I cry when I read to them.

[Forever Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet story written and illustrated by 4th & 5th grade students! The story comes full circle, has themes, and builds character.

Could be used as an example for other students when writing short stories or even personal narratives. This book was published by Scholastic through the Kids Are Authors Award.

[Laci · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written by kids and published. I think kids would really enjoy this aspect. This book is a great really tale and you can learn about sea glass.