Music for the End of Time

By Jen Bryant and Bryant

Book Overview

This work is Jen Bryant's poetic biography of French composer Olivier Messiaen, coupled with Beth Peck's evocative pastel illustrations, captures both the desolation of a World War II prison camp and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802852297
• ISBN13: 9780802852298
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.6" x 11.8"
• Age Range: 9 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 4 and higher

Customer Reviews

A children's picturebook based on the true story of French composer Olivier Messiaen

Music for the End of Time is a children's picturebook based on the true story of French composer Olivier Messiaen, who was captured by the Germans during World War II and sent to a prison camp in Gorlitz (now part of Poland). Despite the bleak living conditions, he received the gift of a small miracle - the opportunity to write music again. With the aid of three fellow musicians also taken prisoner, the song of a beautiful nightingale, and the permission of a German officer, he was able to compose and play the now-famous "Quartet for the End of Time", in a performance appreciated like no other by his fellow prisoners. The emotionally touching pastel illustrations add the perfect quality to this simple story about keeping hope alive in the darkness.