The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven

Starred review from July 17, 2006
While the pseudo-scholarly tone of this amusing "mockumentary" will undoubtedly float over the heads of some, older readers will enjoy its tongue-in-cheek lampoon of portentous documentaries. Beginning with the fact that Beethoven (1770–1827) "owned five legless pianos and composed great works on the floor," the narrative then points out that he lived in 39 different apartments—"(See book title.)" Winter (Roberto Clemente
) and Blitt (Once Upon a Time, the End: Asleep in 60 Seconds
) combine comic brio with audacious fabrication to suggest how difficult it was for the poor fellow to move his quintet of pianos from one place to another. They suggest, for instance, that a nearly deaf Beethoven's playing was "bangingly loud!
" and support the statement by claiming historians have found "hundreds of cotton balls with traces of dried earwax" in his neighbors' apartments. Blitt visually elaborates on each outlandish, allegedly well-researched detail. Illustrating a piano wheeled through an obliging neighbor's apartment, the artist pictures the movers carrying the piano across a dining room table midfeast. The unseen narrator's droll tone sends up the hushed, dramatic voice of an announcer: "Why did Ludwig move after only eight and a half days? Was it, as his diary suggests, because of the 'hideous stinky cheese smell' that filled his apartment? We do not know." A witty spoof of a familiar genre, this irreverent account of a brilliant musician is full of satiric pleasures (and ends with an author's note that sorts fact from fiction). Ages 4-9.

October 1, 2006
Gr 2-5-This offbeat picture book blends facts with bits of quirky, occasionally amusing speculation. Beginning with the composers birth in 1770 (the wild-haired infant cries to the tempo of his famed Fifth SymphonyWah Wah Wah Wah), Winter reveals that the adult Beethoven lived in 39 different apartments in and around Vienna. If readers wonder why he relocated so often, the tongue-in-cheek text cites such reasons as forgetting to pay rent, the hideous stinky smell from a nearby cheese shop, and noise complaints from other residents. Beethoven brings his five legless pianos to each new abode, a constant headache for his movers, who always find the most roundabout and preposterously difficult way of transporting the instruments from place to place. Silly examples of evidence (e.g., we know that Beethoven played his pianos loudly because of the Hundreds of cotton balls with traces of dried earwax found in neighbors homes) are mixed with nuggets of truth (the maestros increasing deafness). The pen-and-ink and watercolor cartoon illustrations depict the frazzled-looking composer and play up the texts humor. Unfortunately, the joke begins to wear thin, and the abrupt, anticlimactic conclusion may disappoint readers who manage to stick with the book until the end. There is not much here to capture the interest of those unfamiliar with Beethovens life and work. While young classical music buffs might enjoy this banal tale, it wont have much to say to most children."Joy Fleishhacker, "School Library Journal

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2006
Gr. 3-5. Winter first states the basic facts: Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Germany, owned five legless pianos, and moved 39 times. From there, "things get fuzzier" about the life of the wild musical genius. Why did he move? Did his tormented neighbors drive him out because of the noise? Did they really write him a note telling him to "Shut . . . up"? It's not clear who the audience is for this mock picture-book biography; Winter's wry send-up of scholars' pretentious attempts to document the "facts" about the situation is strictly for adults. But Blitt, who illustrated Geoffrey Kloske's " Once Upon a Time, the End" (2005), uses his line-and-watercolor cartoons to extend the great parody of the tormented-genius stereotype, and the picture-book crowd will surely relish the humor of the famous, noisy neighbor and the furniture movers schlepping all those pianos. A good companion to Barbara Nichol's " Beethoven Lives Upstairs" (1994).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)