When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky: Two Artists, Their Ballet, and One Extraordinary Riot

Stringer homes in on the joy of collaboration in this celebration of composer Stravinsky and dancer Nijinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Acrylic paintings swoop and curl with the fluidity of music and dance, echoed in the stylistic leaps of Stringer’s prose: “Then Stravinsky met Nijinsky.... His piano pirouetted a puppet, his tuba leaped a loping bear, and his trumpet tah-tahed a twirling ballerina.” The repetition and disruption of shapes creates a kind of visual syncopation, and Stringer pulls in multiple references to cubism; after the ballet is ready to perform, the pair leads a procession of dancers and musicians to the theater, literally shaking up Paris: “The crowed poured into the streets when the curtain went down... wild with the night that brought something brand-new!” Stringer trusts readers with a challenging and exciting account of the transformative power of visionary, risk-taking art. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)