Just.... Because by Mo Willems

As the old saying goes, "It takes a village to raise a child."

This is how it happens.

Because a man named Ludwig wrote beautiful music...

A man named Franz was inspired to create his own....

And long after people first heard that beautiful piece, a man was invited to join an orchestra and a woman practiced constantly and many others learned to play, and an orchestra was formed, and ...

Because someone's uncle caught a cold--

Someone's aunt had an extra ticket for someone special....

And the little girl in the red sweater in Row C, Seat 14 heard Franz' beautiful music ...

... And she was changed.

That's how it happens, in Mo Willem's beautiful story of the sequence of musical inspiration in his brand-new hit book, Because (Hyperion Books, 2019), illustrated skillfully by artist Amber Rose. It takes many hands and many minds to make a moving musical experience, and Willems' story goes on to show the little girl all grown up and performing her music for her uncle now seated in Row C, Seat 14, and someone in another seat is changed, too. The wizardly award-winning author-illustrator Mo Willems, creator of the "score," and the "performance" by illustrator Rose, show just how the magic of music happens once more.

Says School Library Journal, "An iconic book not only for musicians and music lovers but also for anyone wishing to celebrate those who came before."