Dreaming in Code by Emily Arnold McCully

The delicate watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations are lively, admirably capturing Schubert’s fervent spirit and historical details of time and place.

This well-written, inspirational book might interest adults more than children, but youngsters studying Schubert’s piano pieces could also appreciate it children would benefit from hearing the master’s music after listening to or reading this title. By the time Schubert died at age 31 in 1828 (a year after the death of his idol, Ludwig van Beethoven, at whose funeral he’d been a torchbearer), he’d produced 1,000 musical works, including lieder-lyrical songs-some set to friends’ poems. These allies promoted Schubert’s vast accomplishments, enabling him to present impromptu concerts from which he earned a stellar reputation and ardent admirers, though no income he gave only one paid public concert during his lifetime. However, friends encouraged Schubert to follow his passion, and, in early adulthood, he joined them in pursuing a life devoted to the arts. His father discouraged his musical ambition, citing its risky financial future. Narrated by “we,” in the voice of his (mostly) unnamed, devoted friends, this lighthearted, informative biography discusses the brief life and career of the quiet Viennese prodigy. Her other children's books include Amazing Felix, Crossing the New Bridge, Grandmas at the Lake, My Real Family, and The Pirate Queen.Franz Schubert, dubbed “Our Little Mushroom” by friends because he was small and rotund, adored music from childhood. Mirette on the High Wire won the Caldecott Medal in 1993. Her first solo venture, Picnic, won the Christopher Award in 1985.

In 1969, she illustrated Meindert de Jong's Journey from the Peppermint Express, which was the first children's book to receive the National Book Award. She accepted that offer and went on to illustrate over 100 children's books. When one of her illustrations was seen on an advertisement in the subway, she was asked to illustrate Greg Panetta's Sea Beach Express. After graduation, she held a variety of jobs in the art field that included being a commercial artist, a designer of paperback covers, and illustrating advertisements. She graduated from Pembroke College, now a part of Brown University, in 1961 and received an M.A. Emily Arnold McCully was born in Galesburg, Illinois on July 1, 1939.

Dreaming in Code by Emily Arnold McCully