by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 13, 2010

"The Fabulous Song" is a funny children's book about a little boy who wants to make music. But unfortunately, he can't. Young Frederic's piano lessons - at the hands of "Mr. Tricter" - just lead to awful sounds, and a very unpleasant experience. But instead of giving up, his parents buy him a clarinet, and then send him off for clarinet lessons at the house of Mrs. Lumply!

It's a playful look at the world from a child's perspective, and its cheerful tone gets some help from some clever illustrations by Marie-Louise Gay. On the first page, as author Don Gillmor describes young Frederic's childhood, Marie-Louise Gay recreates it by drawing a funny series of photographs - each one revealing a secret second story. For example, the baby's proud parents insisted on wrapping him in a blanket decorated with musical notes... And his sister Sarah is never happy to see him - first frowning, then wincing, and finally sticking her tongue out!

But soon Frederic is also seen frowning - his feet off the ground - as his mother drags him off to yet another musical lesson. The story makes it clear just how unhappy Frederic is. Even the musical notes from his clarinet appear on a jagged musical staff!  And the best thing about playing the clarinet "was that it was small enough to leave on the bus," Gillmor writes, "which Frederic did." But even this won't save the unmotivated music student, since his mother insists they drive to the warehouse "full of all the things people leave on buses." (There were 16 clarinets, 9 oboes, six saxophones, 11 cellos...) Frederic is still trapped in a never-ending series of musical lessons, and there's more bad experiences ahead.  Soon Frederic had also failed at learn the oboe, the violin, the saxophone, and the trumpet - and the trombone, and the xylophone, and even the banjo!

But in the end, the author shows that he really loves music, while also sharing an honest appreciation of how difficult it is to learn. He dedicates the book to his brother David "who still plays," and some versions of the book even come with a musical CD. As the story culminates, Frederic's musical relatives all crowd into the house to make music together. And in a children's book miracle, the cacophony of their instruments blend into a fabulous new song that none of them had ever heard before.

Because Frederic conducts the family orchestra using a magical wooden spoon...

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