A Stradivarius on the subway? This Canadian import tells the story of violinist Joshua Bell's quirky experiment. An imposing woman in a fur coat and matching hat pulls a little boy down the street behind her. "Dylan was someone who noticed things. His mom was someone who didn't." The colors in the street scene behind them are muted grays, except for a thick stripe running across the page to the back of Dylan's head. Brightly colored objects against a white background fill it. Mom has a stripe as well, of blank white. In the crowded train station, Dylan hears music; its swirls of color wend through the scene. Dylan follows the sound to a man in a blue baseball cap, energetically playing the violin. Mom pulls him away, but the power of the music lingers in his mind. Later, at home, he's amazed to hear the violinist on the radio. An announcer explains that famed violinist Joshua Bell played in the subway today, yet "few people listened for even a minute." Dylan runs to show Mom how deeply the music has affected him. He soars around the room in curly colored waves, riding the music. Then they listen together, and they dance! Bell himself recalls the incident that inspired the book in a postscript. Imaginatively illustrated and beautifully written, this offbeat ode to the power of music is a winner. (author's note) (Picture book. 5-9)

Children and adults should both read this book, for it affirms the former while chastising the latter ke Dylan and his mother, there are plenty of children who pay attention while adults do not. Loosely based on the true story of Joshua Bell, who played his Stradivarius in a D.C. train station and was barely noticed, this begins with Dylan noticing and being quite moved. The music stays with Dylan, coloring his drab day and, to his utter delight, reappearing on the radio later on. The story is simple, but the language has its own musicality, replete with alliteration, onomatopoeia, and sentences that linger and float, abruptly halt, and quickly resume. Petricic's gorgeous illustrations in graphite and watercolor are as light and lucid as they are satirical. Featureless, careworn adults drift through life, while Dylan's world is always transformed by Bell's music into a rainbow of color and imagination. This reminds us all to look at the world through the eyes of children and be delighted by the serendipitous moments that surround us.

When Dylan hears someone playing the violin in a subway station, he wants to linger; his mother hurries him along. At home, when the radio broadcasts the violinist's music, Dylan finally gets his mom to listen. Inspired by violinist Joshua Bell's performance at a Washington, D.C., subway station (Bell supplies a postscript), the story and swirling art verge on breathtaking.

A Stradivarius on the subway? This Canadian import tells the story of violinist Joshua Bell's quirky experiment. An imposing woman in a fur coat and matching hat pulls a little boy down the street behind her. "Dylan was someone who noticed things. His mom was someone who didn't." The colors in the street scene behind them are muted grays, except for a thick stripe running across the page to the back of Dylan's head. Brightly colored objects against a white background fill it. Mom has a stripe as well, of blank white. In the crowded train station, Dylan hears music; its swirls of color wend through the scene. Dylan follows the sound to a man in a blue baseball cap, energetically playing the violin. Mom pulls him away, but the power of the music lingers in his mind. Later, at home, he's amazed to hear the violinist on the radio. An announcer explains that famed violinist Joshua Bell played in the subway today, yet "few people listened for even a minute." Dylan runs to show Mom how deeply the music has affected him. He soars around the room in curly colored waves, riding the music. Then they listen together, and they dance! Bell himself recalls the incident that inspired the book in a postscript. Imaginatively illustrated and beautifully written, this offbeat ode to the power of music is a winner. (author's note) (Picture book. 5-9)

Overwrought and overwritten, Emily Baime and Darin Michaels's collection of seasonal beer-friendly recipes is a text heavy cookbook developed with no clear readership in mind. It starts off strong as Baime and Michaels open with a useful rundown of beer styles, adequately informing amateur beer enthusiasts and everyday cooks alike of the various qualities of porters, pilsners and lambics. Then it's off to the races as the duo offers recipes for each season paired with appropriate beers. Of the forty recipes offered, virtually all of them are accompanied by meticulously detailed instructions that turn a basic dish into an epic undertaking. A pickle recipe spans four pages; peel and eat shrimp takes up two. There are some interesting dishes featured such as Pumpkin Seed Brittle and DIY pretzels served with a smoked Gouda sauce, though some readers may have a rough time sourcing black valentine beans for a chili, or rosewater for a pavlova. While the concept for this cookbook is appealing and the authors' knowledge of beer is impressive, the overall execution is a mess. (June)

K-Gr 2 World-renowned violinist Joshua Bell began playing at the age of 4 and performed at Carnegie Hall at 17. On January 12, 2007, he accepted a challenge from a Washington, DC, newspaper reporter to play at a train station dressed like an ordinary street musician. Despite his expertise, he was largely ignored, except supposedly by children who wanted to stop and listen but were rushed along by impatient adults. In this fictionalized account, a young boy who is captivated by the music begs his mother to stop, but is literally yanked along. The music stays with the boy all day, and later, back home, when he hears the same music on the radio, he is able to get his mother not only to stop and listen but also to dance with him. The art reinforces the text nicely. The first spread reads, "Dylan was someone who noticed things. His mom was someone who didn't." The illustration features a man reading a newspaper upside down, a man whose suit jacket is misbuttoned, a cat chewing on a dog's bone, etc. Dylan sees it all, but Mom's line of vision is only blank white space. This is a fine reminder of the old adage to stop and smell the roses, and a good impetus for a discussion of using one's powers of observation. Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ