Allegro: A Musical Journey Through 11 Musical Masterpieces

While I’ll give you that the “Ode to Joy” is a bit rough on the ears, all the other songs are great audio and quality, giving our musically inclined toddler some fun while they match the picture buttons to the pages mama is reading. The illustrations are colorful and it’s fun to point out the instruments in an “I Spy” manner to keep baby engaged. Not a lot of words, but honestly the music is where it’s at. Highly recommend to get small sound bytes of classical music that baby can then request the whole song for dance time. Story is about perseverance despite having to practice-practice-practice, and while I don’t love the page where Allegro crumples up the sheet music and throws it, it does allow us to talk to our toddler and say why that’s bad behavior and how Allegro does turn around and correct that behavior. Recommend highly for getting baby into Grieg (multiple songs by him) and general classical music!

Magical and enchanting, Allegro (published by Familius) is one of my new-favorite picture books. This classy, padded-cover book is beautifully illustrated and so engaging! When a young piano student, named Allegro, gets frustrated while practicing his latest music piece, he crumples it into a tiny ball and throws it onto the dark wood floor. He stares, wide-eyed, as that tiny ball against the dark background appears like a dot that multiplies and grows lines, becoming like notes on a musical staff. And soon he’s transported by enchanting melodies into various musical moods—with stunning illustrations to capture each feeling. A sound panel beside the book pages encourages children to match buttons with corresponding illustrations, allowing children to hear brief examples—from the stirring “March of the Toy Soldiers” (Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker) to the sad feel of Adagio in G Minor (Albinoni) to the triumphant, celebratory “Ode to Joy” (Beethoven)—and Allegro “feels” it all. At last he’s back home, motivated to keep practicing, leading to a delightful ending. With end papers featuring “Meet the Composer” cameos and brief descriptions, this book is a wonderful introduction for youngsters to the many moods and well-recognized melodies of classical music that has delighted listeners for centuries. Highly recommended reading for preschool and elementary classrooms as well as personal reading between little ones and their favorite big people. Bravo, Allegro! #Familius #classical music picture books

This book is absolutely stunning! The illustrations are beautifully done and each page has an accompanying song. I have bought other musical books but love how this one plays a long snippet of music for each song rather than just a few notes. The story is simple yet heartfelt and is a favorite in our household for both the children and adults.

My 19-month grandson loves this musical book, as do all the adults in his life. The illustrations are beautiful and the engaging story shows how music creates an emotional connection and is able to transport one to magical lands. This book chooses the perfect classical music to demonstrate how just by listening to music, one can feel a wide array of emotions, such as happy, sad, wistful, or adventurous. The young boy in the story feels transported to a beautiful meadow, a pirate ship, a jungle, and many more places when he realizes that the notes on a page can touch one's imagination, heart and soul. With so many toys out there with annoying music that frustratingly gets stuck in your head, this book is a welcome relief while helping to hopefully instill a lifelong love of classical music. I highly recommend this book for children and adults alike.

I bought this because our 1 year old Great Granddaughter seems to respond to music, ALL music! I was always musical, and found that it was something that I could enjoy WITH or WITHOUT others. Music has always had a way to give me a chance to slow down, and think things thru. I want her to have music in her life. What a perfect way to encourage this. Each music set in this nicely made story book plays long enough for her to enjoy, but not so long that she loses interest! A good start for music I hope!

My grandson loves musical books and this one was great!

Pros: Book was beautifully illustrated, with many of the sceneries of the book made of different instruments. The selection was all relatively recognizable pieces, even if you are not someone who has background knowledge of classical music. The book talks about how music can be sad or triumphant or bring out different emotions, which I really liked. Also, this book is not annoying. (Parents, you know what I'm talking about.) The music buttons match the illustrations well and my 2 year old can decipher which to play. Sound quality is good and instruments featured is varied as well. There is also a page with short bios on all of the featured composers. Cons: The character, who is frustrated with practicing, says something about "hating" practicing or something like that. I always edit how I read that, I felt it was unnecessary to use that word. I also feel that the story feels a little lacking, and there's not enough text for the length of the excerpts you play for each page. The basic storyline features a little boy who practices and practices to be a great pianist, but there just feels like there's not enough to the story to be invested in his struggle. Overall: I think this is a great introduction to music for children. I am happy with the book and it entrances my 2 and 4 year old. I am happy with my purchase and would recommend it. Also check out "Music is..." It's a great book using some great music vocabulary!

This is the best classical music book for kids! The music selections are beautiful and the illustrations are very cute.

Só as ilustrações não prendem a atenção de uma criança por muito tempo. Poderia ser melhor trabalhado

This book is so pretty and the music also wonderful

A great book! But wish each music plays a much longer time. I find now it’s too short a piece

The good: my child loves classical music, so he liked this book a lot. The bad: - the music panel seems to fragile covered with a thin paper. - When I got the book it wasn't working, so I had to open it and move the batteries, then it worked. - It already had the first change of batteries. - The text on each page is not interesting, instead the info about the piece and the composer is on the first and last page. - The names of the pieces are written in such tiny letters on the music panel. Hard to read. - it is a huge book compared to other musical books. For me it would be two stars, but my son likes it very much, so four stars

This book is encouraging music appreciation for my 3 year old. it’s also just beautifully illustrated.