Musician from the Darkness - Hardcover

Grade 3-5-- Sumptuous paintings of a prehistoric world inhabited by wild birds and primitive cave dwellers suggest that this picture book for older children would be useful in studying the paleolithic era. However, the story of the tribesman who invents a flute and discovers musical sounds inspires more questions than it answers about the origins of human speech. Who is the "man with the sky-blue eyes" and why is he, alone, sensitive to the death of the birds who respond to his musical notes? Why have these early men weapons, rituals, and cave paintings, but no speech? And was the sole purpose of the first "music" not for communication, or pleasure, but simply to overcome their fear of the dark? This book is an example of appealing illustrations, matched with a weak text. Perhaps it is the translation that is at fault, but the story lacks a strong, convincing theme. --Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River,
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.