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'Musical Life of Gustav Mole' -- with CD -- perfect gift for new baby, children, and parents
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The Musical Life of Gustav Mole came out in 1990 – only on audio cassette. I found it a couple years later at a garage sale and it was one of my happiest accidental discoveries. My son and I enjoyed it over and over when he was a toddler and beyond.
Now there’s a storybook to go with it and the wonderful music is on a CD. All the better!
The music-infused tale is told by actor Patrick Macnee, best known for his characterization of John Steed in television’s The Avengers. That quirky British spy series is a classic, but this gentle and loving story by Michael Twinn will be immortal as well. Macnee tells of Gustav’s good fortune to be born into a musical family, and his life story, with a lighthearted touch as if he were speaking to his own beloved grandchildren sitting on his lap.
The music, composed by Andrew Belling, performed with the hearty help of solo violinist Sid Page, is enchanting and gives children a good sampling of musical styles, from lullaby to dance, to jazz, to opera. It shows how music conveys emotion, from parental indulgence, to exuberant happiness, despondency, to love.
It tells the story of various instruments, including violin and piano and cello, but also touching on double bass, drums, triangle, and recorder. It conveys the happiness of singing together.
On the cassette I have, the story is on one side and the instrumental-only musical themes on the other. I recorded the lullaby portion to play separately because it seemed to be the most perfect soft gentle melody for a baby to fall asleep by. The cassette is still available at about $6 new, even less used.
Trust me, you have to hear this delightful music to appreciate it.
And now, with a storybook, you can go over the words and plot with your young children. There are lessons outside music to be learned. Mole learns the value of not giving up and the potential for misunderstanding.
Gustav finds composing when his playing does not rise above the mediocre. He serenades his lady love with his own composition, only to be dashed with cold water. He almost gives up on life – then he learns it was a jealous rival who threw the water, not the young lady who captured his heart.
He becomes a happy family man, passing on his love of music to his children.
Kathryn Meyrick, herself a professional violist, drew the pictures for the storybook. But don’t just get the book. The music is what makes the story special.
At about $15 list price, less at some places on-line, for the paperback and CD, it’s a bargain. Ignore the recommendation for ages 4-8 and give confidently as a gift for new babies and toddlers, elementary kids -- and their parents.
For slightly older kids, Meyrick penned a sequel in 1992: Lost Music: Gustav Mole’s War on Noise.
(Hardcover, $14)
In this story, no one's picking up a tune and Gustav is melancholy again. His family stopped singing because they can’t hear themselves above their noisy neighborhood. Gustav takes them on a world tour "to warn the world and to rediscover the music they had lost." From Budapest to Bali, Gustav drums up support for his cause, and is in turn serenaded by such creatures as cimbalom-playing badgers (Hungary), a sitar-playing tiger (India) and a kangaroo on the didgeridoo (Australia). The visual information on wildlife and ethnic music is splendid -- Meyrick spent two years on the research and drawing. But this is recommended for too young an audience. The vocabulary needed is upper elementary and above. But it makes a good gift for an older sibling when the younger is given the first Gustav Mole story and CD. And it ends triumphantly for the musical mole family, of course!
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