Do Re Mi by Susan Roth

Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music Thank Guido d’Arezzo was a book of particular interest to me because I grew up participating in several music activities and was originally a music major at Appalachian!  The most astonishing part of this to me is that although music and singing had been such a huge part of my life for several years, I had actually never heard of Guido!  Roth had to do a great deal of research to accurately portray the events of Guido’s life that led him to become who he was and to impact music in a world-changing way.

One of the things from Roth’s illustrations (beautiful collage, of course) in this book that really stood out to me was the addition of the five lines at the bottom of each page.  Obviously this represents the lines of the staff in written music, and I have thought about why I think she chose to do this.  Even though the entire story is about music and how written music came to be, I think that the lines are empty to show that Guido has made the connection that music can be written, but has not figured out yet how to bring it all together until the end of the story, where Roth uses a copy of the original first written staff with musical notes included.  I also think that Roth uses the continuous lines that reach from the edge of each page to the edge of the next (signaling the reader that they are flowing as one continuous staff) to represent the constant growth, learning, and movement of Guido’s life as a journey that took him to his ultimate destination; written music. 

Roth also uses a lot of earth tones in this book, washed out colors, and nothing too bright.  I imagine that this is to match the style and mood of the story, which is “old”, to put it bluntly.  This is the story of someone and events that are from long ago.  Many of the backgrounds and materials used resemble old fashioned parchment paper, which suits the timeline and setting.  I also think her font choice was appropriate, simple and common to not distract the reader from the non-fiction (informational) genre.  The use of collage draws the reader into the illustrations. As Morgan points out in Picture Book Biographies for Young Children: A Way to Teach Multiple Perspectives, “Not only will students learn from the words but also from the pictures”.  At the same time, without the text the illustrations would be much more difficult to understand (powerful synergy), requiring the reader to pay attention to the text as well.

This story can be an example for students of how “listening to your heart” and “following your dream” can make an impact on the world.  It is a “well-written biography [that] can be inspirational to children” (Morgan, 2009) that provides an accurate historical perspective.  It would make for a great interactive read aloud!