Daniel Handler kills the composer for the kids

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By Steven W. Beattie
February 2, 2009
11:37 AM

Filed under: Quillblog, book, books, CES, children, e-book, E-Books, eBook, eBooks, Interview, Kids, Lemony Snicket, meth, narration, new york times, OAC, Reading, The New York Times, Web

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The mental and spiritual development of the young ’uns seems to be much on the minds of literary types these days.

Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket (apparently to his lasting chagrin: the author’s new story is titled “Why Does Lemony Snicket Keep Following Me?”), is working on a symphony that will teach children about orchestral instruments. The piece, commissioned by the San Fransisco Symphony, is called “The Composer Is Dead” (a book-and-CD version is due out in March). In an interview published in the Sacramento Bee, Snick… er, Handler explains that he was originally approached by composer Nathaniel Stookey to contribute narration to Peter and the Wolf, but considered that story “boring.”

Handler describes the plot of “The Composer” this way:

The composer is dead and his death is suspicious, and the authorities come in and question all the members of the orchestra so you learn about all the different instruments.

Yup. That sounds riveting.

In other kid-related news, The New York Times Magazine asks whether children reap the same benefits reading off a computer screen as they do reading actual books:

In a hundred ways, we pretend that screen experiences are books — PowerBooks, notebooks, e-books — but even a child knows the difference. Reading books is an operation with paper. Playing games on the Web is something else entirely. I need to admit this to myself, too. I try to believe that reading online is reading-plus, with the text searchable, hyperlinked and accompanied by video, audio, photography and graphics. But maybe it’s just not reading at all. Just as screens aren’t books.

Stephanie Fysh

My children went to see The Composer Is Dead last spring at the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, conducted by Edwin Outwater (a friend of Handler’s) — and loved it, as did their longtime-symphony-patron grandparents.
http://news.therecord.com/printArticle/329928
Ck

Why does he want to re-invent what Benjamin Britten already created?
David Kent

To Q&Q

I am trying to understand how someone who covers children’s authors for the Canadian book trade can be so dismissive of Daniel Handler’s project THE COMPOSER IS DEAD, not to mention that were I to list the inaccuracies of this “story” it would be longer than what was printed.
But to the key phrase, the conclusion: “Yup. That sounds riveting.”
I attended the sold-out performances in Toronto when THE COMPOSER was performed with The Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Anyone who was there — children, their parents, the orchestra members — were treated to one of the most enjoyable, laugh-filled concerts in memory (I got this from one of the hat-check ladies). I was there, it was magical — and, yes, riveting — and the entire audience stayed for 45 minutes after the end to ask questions of Daniel, Nathanial Stookey (the composer of THE COMPOSER), and Peter Oundjian, the Symphony’s Conductor and Music Director.
The book and accompanying CD will be out in a few weeks, and I’m sure that the same audience who account for Lemony Snicket selling 65 million books world-wide will have a very different opinion than that of Mr. Beattie. Of course, they will actually have read the book and heard the music. I would also suggest, instead of the link to the Sacramento Bee interview, you should have your readers check out

http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/sound_insights/works/interviews/wrk_interviews.html

I would be happy to buy Mr. Beattie a ticket for the March 7th performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City, which I will also be attending with Daniel Handler’s brilliant Canadian editor, Susan Rich. Yes, it is worth the trip to New York. Perhaps, once Mr. Beattie actually hears how it “sounds”, instead of basing his printed opinion from a brief response to a specific question during a short interview…

Sincerely,

David Kent
President and CEO
HarperCollinsCanadaLtd

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