Wolfgang and the Magic of Music

Wolfgang and the Magic of Music

Didier Lévy

Lorenzo Sangio

Thames & Hudson, 2024

40pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9780500653838

When Wolfgang posts a notice on a big tree in the forest about wanting to start a band, he is very disappointed that no one comes to join until, just as he gives up and decides to take it down, a rabbit appears and asks to audition.  Even though Wolfgang has more culinary ideas about the rabbit than musical, nevertheless he listens and rather than seeing Rex as a tasty snack, Wolfgang sees him as the perfect partner. The Big Bads group is born. They are an immediate hit, and their fans come to listen from all over the forest. And even though sometimes Wolfgang’s tummy rumbles, all it takes is for Rex to start playing and the music overwhelms them.

This is a story about how the most unlikely of friendships can be formed through the shared love of something common like music or sport, that offers much food for thought for those wanting to look beyond the storyline and charming illustrations. So while little ones will enjoy identifying some of their favourite fairytale characters who make up the audience, perhaps even listening and moving to the sort of music that some of the newly-formed bands create, older readers could delve a little deeper.  Why might Wolfgang have struggled to find band members? Could there be more to the Big Bad Wolf than his reputation?  After all, even Little Red Riding Hood comes to listen to The Big Bads Play. Are characters, or even real people, one-dimensional? What is the meaning of “stereotype”? What can we learn about characterisation from this story that we can apply to our own?

While building connections through the universal language of music is not an uncommon theme in children’s literature, and those focusing on unusual friendships even moreso, stories that readily enable young writers to focus on their own storycraft are rarer and that is the real appeal of this one for me  Now I am keen to get my hands on its predecessor, Morris and the Magic of Stories.