“SYMPHONY CITY,” by Amy Martin, McSweeney’s McMullens, July 19, 2011, $17.95 (ages 4 and up)
Music can be found everywhere. That’s what a young girl learns in “Symphony City” by Amy Martin.
There’s nothing to do. But when a young girl learns there’s a free concert today featuring the Symphony City Orchestra downtown, she rushes out the door. “We can make it if we hurry.”
The subway is empty at first, but soon fills with people. The girl tries to hold on tight, but there are too many people, and she is left all alone. The girl hears a sound and realizes she can find her way if she follows it up to the city.
In the city, she finds there is music on every corner. It comes through open windows and drifts through trees. But even the streets become quiet. Not everyone is asleep, though, as the girl finds her way home.
“Symphony City” is as much a piece of art as it is a picture book. Its text is simple and blends into each page, as if it is part of the illustration. The illustrations themselves are bold in their graphic nature and burst with color.
Simplicity on a large scale is the best way to describe “Symphony City.” Words and images marry to create an adventure in music, art and imagination. The addition of a dust-jacket that unfolds into a two-sided poster helps to extend Martin’s ideas beyond the book and into everyday life.
