Mozart: The Boy Who Changed the World with His Music (World History Biographies Series) Book

A solid biography of Mozart for children. This book is well written and easy to read, which is what I have come to expect from National Geographic's wonderful non-fiction for children. Mozart's life is broken up into four major parts and then divided into smaller sections within those four parts. Each two-page spread is generally a new "chapter" (with some exceptions in which the chapter lasts four pages). The text is accompanied by numerous illustrations from the time period with informative captions, interesting sidebars, and a comprehensive timeline that runs along the bottoms of the pages throughout the book. In the middle of each of the four major sections of the book is a two-page spread that discusses some aspect of history or music that is applicable to Mozart but that would not be directly addressed in his biography. These discuss opera, musical instruments, the Age of Enlightenment, and what it would have been like for Mozart to travel when he was a child. These "asides" add a great deal to the experience of reading this biography.

Overall, this is a great biography of Mozart. It is an effective combination of the basic facts, interesting anecdotes, and a little bit of this and that thrown in. It's only too bad that it doesn't come with a soundtrack so the reader can hear some of the amazing music that is mentioned. :)