The Enchanted Symphony

Music drives away a depressive fog in this inventively illustrated fable. After the creative residents of an idyllic village lose touch with “their own simple pleasures,” a purple mist covers the town, keeping everyone indoors. Young Piccolino and his orchestra maestro father nevertheless clean the opera house each week, and Piccolino soon discovers that playing music perks up the lobby palms. This leads the brown-skinned father and son to devise a plan to brighten the village’s sickly plants—and, by extension, help cure the town’s malaise. Though the plot feels a bit hazy at times, Andrews and Hamilton employ a gentle fairy tale lilt to explore art’s effect on all kinds of life. McKay’s dynamic illustrations, which portray individuals of varying skin tones, make up an engaging narrative of their own, layering lighted cut-outs before photographing to create deep shadows and a glowing effect. An author’s note describes the story’s inspiration in a Barcelona string quartet’s performance during Covid lockdowns for a concert hall filled with plants. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)