Nana Hannah's Piano - Hardcover

Bottner, Barbara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399226567 ISBN 13: 9780399226564

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile, 1996

Synopsis

Nana Hannah helps Sonny play the piano and tells him that he will be good at whatever he does, and when Nana twists her ankle and needs some cheering up, they watch the World Series together, and Sonny realizes that he has room in his life for both baseball and the piano.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3-"After school, when I want to be at softball practice, I have to sit down at the piano instead." The fact that the narrator's music teacher is grouchy and critical doesn't help, and his mother won't let him quit his lessons. What helps is Nana Hannah next door: her tango lessons, her twisted ankle, and, most importantly, her relaxed, no-pressure attitude. By the end of the story, the boy has blossomed naturally into a player-of both baseball and piano-and actually enjoys both. While not universally as appealing as Bottner's Bootsie Barker Bites (Putnam, 1992, which was helped by Peggy Rathmann's superlative artwork), this fresh story is nicely told and delivers its message without a lot of preaching. Bluthenthal has a light comic touch, a controlled graceful line, and a clear eye for color. Her nana looks like a cross between Olive Oyl and a Hilary Knight character. While the look of this book is a little young for kids old enough to have a problem like this, it is nevertheless an amusing take on a fairly common predicament.
Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Piano practice is the bane of a boy's existence. He'd rather be playing the infield, but his mother is absolute about piano lessons: ``We don't have quitters in this family.'' Only his tango-dancing Nana Hannah, with whom he spends a week while her sprained ankle heals, seems to know how to nudge him toward the ivories: She takes an interest in baseball, and he is inspired by her love of music. When they sit together and bang out a four-handed duet of ``Take Me Out to the Ball Game,'' the boy's diamond buddies, peeking through the window, go wild. Sharing, caring, and a patch of common ground--Bottner (Hurricane Music, 1995, etc.) knows the ingredients, and fashions them into a minor ode to encouragement. Bluthenthal's brashly cartoonish illustrations are technically sophisticated, particularly nice in the swooping lines of Nana in tango mode. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0399226567
• ISBN 13: 9780399226564
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 29