Snicket, Lemony and Stookey, Nathaniel. The composer is dead. Illustrated by Carson Ellis. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-06-123627-3.
Author Website: http://www.lemonysnicket.com/ (Snicket)
http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=2&composerId_2872=3094 (Stookey).
Illustrator Website: http://www.carsonellis.com/
Media: Ink and watercolor.
Use of Simile: (p. 14) “making you act like birds.”
Use of Alliteration: (p. 22) “battered the band, agitated the audience, rattled the roof.”
Use of Repetition: (p. 6) “I will find them if they are lurking,” is repeated four times. (pages 11, 13, 16, 21) “AHA! The Inspector cried.” (p. 26) “Beethoven—dead! Bach—dead! Mozart—dead! Haydn—dead!”
Use of Personification: (p. 9) “second violins, who are more fun at parties.” (p. 11) “Don’t be ridiculous! The violins said.” (p. 12) “Everyone forgets about us,” said the violas bitterly.”
Special Notations: 2009 Students’ List, Personal Top Ten
Annotation: An amusing and theatrical police inspector attempts to solve the mystery of a deceased composer. Snicket introduces readers to instruments in an orchestra and includes a CD of an original composition by Snookey played by the San Francisco Orchestra.
Personal Reaction: The Composer is Dead is a special book from cover to cover; the front cover is illustrated as a theater marquee and the back cover is the stage door. Once I opened the book and stepped into the theater, I found a CD of music composed by Stookey and performed by the San Francisco symphony. Lemony Snicket added to the entertainment with a humorous mystery, reminiscent of the Pink Panther. Snicket’s trademark humor and writing style will be welcomed by The Series of Unfortunate Events fans; Snicket even offers a definition of the term, “composer.” The narrator is a police inspector with a murder to solve. Snicket injects plenty of humor into the inspector’s dialogue: “very handsome and intelligent, not unlike myself,” comments the inspector (p.8). Readers are treated to an introduction to the different parts of an orchestra as the inspector accuses each of killing the composer. The inspector repeatedly shouts, “AHA!” and whirls around in anticipation only to find that the violins, brass, violas, strings, and others have valid alibis. Ellis’ artwork plays well with Snicket’s text as she uses ink lines to convey swirling motion around her watercolor drawings of the inspector and his accusatory finger (p.13). This book would make a fantastic read aloud for a music teacher of first time orchestra members.
