The Violin Man
Colin Thompson

Hodder Headline 2003
32pp., hbk., $27.95
0733617334

HONOUR BOOK
CBC Book of the Year Awards2004

The story is about an old man who wanted to play his violin in a concert. But once he did, he found it wasn’t what he wanted. He realized seeing his dead daughters shadow outside the hall was more important than playing inside.

Well to tell you the truth, in the beginning I was only half interested. But as I read on I got more and more interested.

I can feel how Oscar (main character) is feeling. He is a sad man and I know how strong his music must be. I can feel what the whole story is about, all the feelings, moods and the love it creates as a background of beautiful things like a sunset on a beach. As the sun disappears behind the horizon Oscars dreams fade into love!

All the words fit in with the story and have been used in the right place at the right time. It is a soft understandable tale. The story of the violin man does have a beginning the middle, plus it has an end. The story is solved with a resolution that suits everybody. These three categories make the story interesting and as people read the first paragraph they are interested to see the next. The book can be very attractive to some people and they wish they could have a second book.

Colin Thompson, the author, writes his stories with care and emotion. Each paragraph forms a picture inside my head. The drawn pictures, also by Colin Thompson, gave me a small idea of the picture that I formed in my head. He makes the things that the characters have to say understandable, and easy to catch onto. The last two lines of the book show you what I mean, they are “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you again”.

Colin Thompson is sending a message like a fruit still ripening, a soft real message that people need to learn in life. Its more of a serious book than a book to laugh about. My advice to Colin Thompson would be that he should give more detail to his words and he should write more stories on the violin man.

The font and the way the story was laid out was fine and easy to read.

If I was just about to read it I would sit in a quiet room. It is interesting book to read as a bed time story, or to relax with.

Ashley, Year 3

The Violin Man is a beautiful story of Oscar who played his violin outside the theatre every day of the year except Christmas Day when the theatre was closed. The people who were standing utside waiting o go in loved to hear him play because his music was so wonderful that they began to day dream and they forgot about havingto wait in the rain and the cold.

Oscar used to play while his daughter Marietta danced but she got sick and so it was now just him.

After he played each night he would have a cup of tea with Albert who was the stage doorman. And they would sit and think about their dreams, even though they thought they were too old to make them come true.

One night Albert lets Oscar play on the stage after the theatre closed, and something strange happens.and Oscar understands that dreams should be just dreams.

I really enjoyed this book - it is very different from the books I usually read. At first I felt so sorry for Oscar because I thought he was so alone but at the end, I understood a lot more about him.

This is a very special book with pictures that really draw you in. But there are quirky bits to them too so you don't get too sad. I give this book nearly five out of five.

Belindah, Yr 6, South Sydney