Ginger Books was excited to learn that illustrator David Litchfield has won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize: Best Illustrated Book 2016.

David, from nearby Bedfordshire (Ginger Books HQ is in Hertfordshire – we are practically neighbours!), won the award for his beautiful and heart-warming picture book The Bear & The Piano. It tells the tale of a young bear cub who finds a discarded piano in the forest. He eventually learns to play it and becomes a world famous pianist.

David’s musical theme got us thinking about our own orchestral-linked title Let’s Play Some Music!
This book by South Korean author Seong Eun Kang encourages children to be more curious about sounds, rhythm and musical harmony.

It tells what happens when the children of Mr Maestro’s orchestra get a little too noisy and he decides to teach them about music and melody with the help of everyday objects – and their own voices!

“Music is our feelings stirred into sound,” Mr Maestro tells the children. “Music is like a magical recipe of all our instruments whisked together.”

But when the children’s recipe goes very, very wrong, Mr Maestro sets about letting the children in on the special secrets to making music: loudness, length, pitch and harmony. Before long, they have all the ingredients they need and the orchestra have become music makers.

Let’s Play Some Music! would be a brilliant title to share with your children over the school holidays. Perhaps it will inspire them to make some music of their own?