The Pear Violin

PreS-Gr 1—A small squirrel stumbles upon a pear in the forest one day and decides to turn one half of it into a violin, using small twigs and whiskers pulled from his chin. The pear violin creates beautiful music and a sweet scent that makes its way through the forest, where it startles the animals who hear it. A fox stops chasing a chicken, and a lion halts its pursuit of a rabbit. Instead, they go searching for the source of the music. All of the animals of the forest are transfixed; the food chain is forgotten as bunny snuggles with lion and chicken cozies with fox. When a seed falls, a magical pear tree grows, filled with pears of all sizes. The animals make more stringed instruments from these pears, and peace and happiness prevail in the forest. Bingbo's simplistic but sweet story unfolds like a folktale or fable, with its message of friendship and understanding gained through the power of music. The creation of the violin may inspire or complement existing lesson plans about musical instruments. Gumi's pencil and watercolor illustrations evoke a gorgeous twilight in the forest, and the expressive faces of the animals will delight the youngest readers.