When I find Ladybird books to buy, although I'm buying with my children in mind I also look for ones that represent my own interests. I love the way that the Ladybird books are easy to read, yet so comprehensive that they contain a wealth of information on a subject. If you are looking for an overview on a topic they are brilliant.
Lives of the Great Composers is in Series 662 - History of the Arts. I have Book 1, and there is also a Book 2. Book 1 covers Bach, Mozart and Beethoven and was published in 1969. I recently wrote about The Story of Music, which is also found in this series.
There is a lot of detailed information in this book. Each composer is given a detailed biography, beginning with a history of their family and details of their early childhood. There are also little anecdotes about their lives, for example a story about how Bach was able to fit his hand through a grille in a cupboard to copy his brother's sheets of music, and there are some lovely, lively illustrations to match the stories.
At the end of the book is a list of well-known pieces by the composers in the book with a few notes about each. The whole thing is written in a really descriptive and engaging style which makes it a pleasure to read, and once again I learned a lot from reading this book!
If you love Ladybird books, do pop over and visit Ladybird Tuesday, where Being Mrs C is assembling a really comprehensive catalogue of Ladybird books and reviews.
Below you can find links to all my Ladybird Tuesday book posts.
Snow White and Rose Red
Hansel and Gretel
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The Three Little Pigs
The Old Woman and her Pig
Little Red Riding Hood
The Ugly Duckling
The Railway Children
A Little Princess
A First book of Aesop's Fables
A Ladybird Book about Knitting
More Things to Make - For Special Occasions
Easy to Make Puppets
Learning to Sew
Stamp Collecting
Tricks and Magic
Prehistoric Animals and Fossils
Dinosaurs
Stone Age Man in Britain
Great Civilisations - Crete
Charles Dickens
Nelson
Lives of the Great Composers Book 1
Lives of the Great Composers Book 2
The Story of Music
Plants and How They Grow
The Ladybird Book of the Night Sky
Sea and Air Mammals
The Farm
The Story of Nuclear Power
The Motor Car
How it Works - The Computer
How it Works - The Rocket
The Story of Ships
The Postman and the Postal Service
People at Work - The Nurse
Understanding Numbers
Talkabout Clothes
Going to School
Teaching Reading
Stories of Special Days and Customs
Christmas Customs
Girls and Boys - A Ladybird Book of Childhood
I'm still looking out for some of this series without any success. The more I read about it though the more I want to track it down. Thanks for joining in again Jennifer.
ReplyDeleteI found this and the other one in the series in a great big box in a local charity shop, which was full of the more educational, wordy Ladybird books. I couldn't get them all so I spent ages choosing which ones I was going to get, the trouble with Ladybird books is that there are so many you would find it very difficult to collect them all!
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