Genre: Biography

This is a good example of a biography first because the title indicates that it is about a specific person that lived during a specific time in history – the composer Handel. The book is not fictional in any sort of way, it starts right outwith Handel as a young boy and the different things he liked to do. It also puts certain words at the bottom of the page along with a definition just in case the readers are not sure what the words mean. There are some humorous elements to the story, but the facts are real and the characters are also real, as are the events. In the back of the book, there is a chronological listing of events that happened in Handel’s life. There are interesting bits of trivia and information about Handel’s background, and this is what I think makes just a regular biography about a composer seem more enthralling, which is what this book was for me.
The media that was used in this book is stated to be acrylic. You can tell as you look from page to page what kind of colors had to be mixed together or layered to create a specific look. What is also interesting is that from page to page, if one looks really closely at it, you can tell the different brushstrokes that were used to create the different characters, shadows, shapes, and effects. A lot of gold coloring was used in the book to create a rich effect, and there are many dark colors used as well as gold. The colors are not extremely vibrant but they are varied.
The main character, of course, is Handel. He does not stay a flat character as a young boy for long. He grows up to be someone that becomes far more passionate about music, and even though he knew what he wanted to do long before he grew up and pursued it, his character (and real life person) was given the opportunity. At first he started out with a passion and strong interest, and as the story goes along, the passion does not really change from one thing to another, but he does go through ups and downs and visions for what he wants for his future. The passion grows and he perseveres through various conflicts of interest from his father and his critics of his music. Sometimes the biggest antagonist and foil character in the story is himself because he wants to succeed so badly. This is the character of Handel, and he grows slowly and in different ways as the story rises up and then winds down to an end, with Handel being finally satisfied with his life.

Review—

Genre: Historical Fiction. This is a great example of historical fiction because of the relevance of Handel’s music for the ages to come. The author includes dates, events and countries where Handel composed his music and preformed his music as well.

Age Appropriateness: Intermediate
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This is a decent example of biography. It talks about the most important parts of Handel's life, but also gives interesting facts that wouldn't necessarily be common knowledge. It talks about how he was as a child and his rise to fame, his fall, and his re-rise to fame before his death. However, it's not a perfect example of a biography in that I think some of it may be opinion or a little bit biased on the authoring. So, in that it doesn't seem all factual, it's only a pretty good example of biography.
The author does a really good job of describing the setting. I think it's really important in this case because without a time frame or placement, the idea of operas doesn't always make sense. The author straight out tells the reader the time frame (in the beginning his birth year to death year) and throughout the story says things like "In the year..." The author also describes the countries he was in and that gives meaning to why the operas were a big hit and then why they began to fail.
Age Appropriateness: Primary, Intermediate
Media: Charcoal, chalk