Hannah and the wrong note

Hannah and the wrong note

Shane Goth

Book - 2025

"When Hannah played piano, music danced in the air. Her notes leaped and lunged, stood straight and spun, keeping perfect pitch and a steady tempo. Even when her younger sister, Jenny, dashed between them. Hannah dreams of becoming a famous musician and works tirelessly toward her goal. For her upcoming school recital, she set high stakes for herself: Swan Lake, a difficult piece. Despite encouragement from her parents to zdo her best,y and Jenny’s insistence that wrong notes are fun, Hannah is undeterred. Only perfection will do. Hannah practices and practices and practices. But one note won’t fall into line. It’s a wrong note. And no matter what Hannah tries, she can’t make it do what she wants. Her music is not perfect. On t...he day of the concert, she plays brilliantly, until … the wrong note pounces! Devastated, Hannah won’t be consoled. But Jenny starts to tickle the personified wrong note, and they dance and play. Hannah soon finds herself tapping a foot. She’s inspired to toss aside her sheet music and try something new. Her notes flip and trip, but she likes the sound and has fun playing. Is the wrong note so wrong after all? The notes aren’t perfect but they’re Hannah’s own. A gentle reminder that a willingness to embrace imperfection can lead to joyful new discoveries."--

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2 copies ordered
Subjects
Picture books.
Genres
Picture books
Published
Toronto : Owlkids Books 2025.
Language
English
Main Author
Shane Goth (author)
Other Authors
Sara Gagnon-Dumont (illustrator)
Physical Description
pages cm
ISBN
9781771475914
Contents unavailable.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A young musician discovers the joys of improvisation. Hannah dreams of becoming a professional pianist and expects nothing less than perfection from herself. As she plays, a series of personified notes emerge, holding hands as they march and keeping "perfect pitch and a steady tempo," even as Hannah's more free-wheeling little sister, Jenny, romps among them. As Hannah practices for a performance ofSwan Lake at her school's year-end concert, she consistently gets one note wrong. "Wrong notes are fun," says Jenny. Hannah disagrees and diligently rehearses. When the wrong note makes an appearance at the concert, Hannah is devastated. Her parents praise her, but she counters, "It wasn't perfect!" At home, Jenny discovers the wrong note sulking in the corner and tickles it; together they wriggle in glee. Hannah's never seen a note do that before. Ignoring her sheet music, she tries something new, and the notes "tripped and skipped and even flipped." Hannah adores these new sounds and concludes, "Maybe the wrong notewasn't wrong." Though the story's a bit heavy-handed, with an abrupt ending, it conveys a vital message about embracing imperfection and learning to cut loose. Goth employs robust language to convey Hannah's passion, while Gagnon-Dumont's loose, energetic illustrations rely on a limited palette of browns, grays, blues, white, and black, with yellow splashes. Hannah and her family are brown-skinned; their community is diverse. Sound, visually inspired guidance for young perfectionists.(Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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