When Rubin Plays
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the PW Flying Starts creative force, Gracey Zhang, comes a touching and beautiful story about community, finding your own voice, doing what you love the most, and expressing your passion with FORTE!
Rubin loves the beautiful sounds that are played by the orchestra. He wants to learn to play the violin and make his own music. But when Rubin plays, it doesn't sound like he imagines it should. Rubin goes into the forest to practice alone and despite only getting the violin to screech, he finds an unlikely audience that loves his unique style.
In another inspiring and lyrical picture book that deftly dives into the psyche and heart of a child's viewpoint and experience, the creator of Lala's Words, Gracey Zhang, offers confidence to everyone who longs to master something that can be difficult and shows that there is only one way to do something right: that is to do it your own special way.
This is the next book from one of today's most gifted young creators. Zhang is a Publishers Weekly's Spring 2021 Children's Flying Starts creator and her debut, Lala's Words, has received endless praise: "Little Lala helps the weeds in the vacant lot blossom into full, gorgeous plants just by talking to them and showing them a little love. This picture book is breathtaking, and Zhang’s use of color really helps the story come alive. It’s like a modern inverse of The Giving Tree." -- Paul Swydan, The Silver Unicorn Bookstore
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Inside a one-story building shaded by a palm forest, children play stringed instruments, an adult conducts, and a small boy, Rubin, listens, enraptured. Broad strokes of sunny yellow paint surround Rubin with warmth as he listens to the orchestra, and to his sister, Isabel, practicing the cello. When Rubin asks if he may learn to play, the maestro gives him a violin, but it's not so simple. (Rubin's cacophony is scrawled in black ink: "eeeeeeiiiieoooih.") "Practice, Rubin," the maestro tells him, "and you'll soon play with us at the concert." Rubin rehearses "quietly, quietly" at the back of the room, supported by his bandmates, but playing in the forest is better. The shrieks of his violin don't bother anyone, and his yowling instrument attracts a clowder of cats that yowl back ("Miiaaoooo"). When the night of the concert comes, and Rubin joins in, his sound results in a magnificent whirlwind performance. Spreads and text from Zhang (Dear Mr. G) pulse with joy ("Forte forte forte his heart beat") as the whole community acknowledges Rubin's unique contribution ("Magnífico, Rubin," Isabel sighs) in this wondrous tale of trust in self and collaboration. Protagonists are portrayed with brown skin. An author's note concludes. Ages 4–8.
