The Composer Is Dead

Author: Lemony Snicket

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $30.00 NZD
  • : 9780061236273
  • : HarperCollins Publishers
  • : HarperCollins AU
  • :
  • : 0.399
  • : May 2009
  • : 279mm X 216mm X 10mm
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  • : 29.99
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • : Lemony Snicket
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  • : Hardback
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  • : Carson Ellis
  • : English
  • : 813.6
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  • : full-colour
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Barcode 9780061236273
9780061236273

Description

There's dreadful news from the symphony hall--the composer is dead!


In this perplexing murder mystery from New York Times bestselling author Lemony Snicket, everyone seems to have a motive, everyone has an alibi, and nearly everyone is a musical instrument. But the composer is still dead.


Perhaps you will be able to solve it yourself. Join the Inspector as he interrogates all the unusual suspects. Then listen to the accompanying audio recording featuring Lemony Snicket and the music of Nathaniel Stookey performed by the San Francisco Symphony. Hear for yourself exactly what took place on that fateful, well-orchestrated evening.

Reviews

Kirkus Review - Children (01/15/2009): In this characteristically unsettling invitation to Meet the Orchestra, the Composer leads off —dead or, as the author puts it, "decomposing " at his desk. Enter the Inspector —bearing a certain resemblance to the aforementioned scrivener (or at least his alter ego) in Ellis's note-strewn, atmospherically wan watercolors —to grill each section of instruments and to pick apart their alibis. When the Inspector at last accuses the Conductor of doing the dirty deed, all of the former suspects step up to declare collective guilt: "All of us have butchered a composer at one time or another. But we also keep composers alive. " On the accompanying CD the melodramatic narrative is set to percussive music, which is reprised without the author's reading on a second set of tracks. Conceived as an alternative to "Peter and the Wolf " but more a send-up than an informational visit to the pit, the episode isn't likely to make much of a lasting impression on young audiences. (Picture book. 8-10, adult)

Author description

Lemony Snicket had an unusual education which may or may not explain his ability to evade capture. He is the author of the 13 volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events, several picture books including The Dark, and the books collectively titled All The Wrong Questions.

Carson Ellis is the illustrator of a number of books for children, including the Wildwood Chronicles, and is the author and illustrator of the picture books Du Iz Tak?, a Caldecott Honor winner, and Home. Carson lives just outside Portland, Oregon, with her family.