The Fabulous Song [Paperback]

When Sarah Pipkin's brother was born, everyone decided he would be musical. They even named him Frederic, as in Frederic Chopin. As Frederic grew, he tried, without success, to play every instrument.

Then, on his seventh birthday, with the Pipkins gathered around, the fabulous song finally happened.

Marie-Louise Gay is the author and illustrator of numerous children's books. Her long list of honors includes the Governor Generals Award, the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Medal, and the Mr. Christie Book Award. Midnight Mimi, Moonbeam on a Cat's Ear, Fat Charlie's Circus, and Willy Nilly are among her famous books.
Don Gillmor is an award-winning journalist and travel writer. As a children's author, he has also been highly successful. The Fabulous Song, illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay, won the Mr. Christie Book Award, and like The Christmas Orange, was nominated for the Governor Generals Award for text.

In an appealing Canadian import, Gillmor takes an offbeat approach to the dreaded subject of music lessons. . . The illustrations, with their exaggerated figures, limpid watercolors, and nervous line, are full of great touches.
—Kirkus

Gilmour makes some excellent dry comedy out of his straightforward language. . . Marie-Louise Gay's illustrations suit the comic, improvisational tone and theme of the story. She uses scribbly lines and loose washes of bright colour -- and streams of musical notation, grim and annoying or bright and loopy as fits the mood, that fly out of the double-spread pages like banners of sound.
Recommended.
—CM Magazine