As a child, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was playing all the time, but not with other children. His type of play involved music, performances, and hours and hours of practice. Peter Sís flirts with the dual meaning of “play” in a book that shows the young Mozart following his father’s command to “play” the piano, while he engages in a rich world of imaginative play inside his mind. Sís conveys this idea with a whimsical series of illustrations that shows the young Mozart imagining the furniture and knickknacks in the room where he practices transforming, first into notes on his sheet music, and then into a colorful group of performers on a stage. This introduction to Mozart weaves brief information about his life as a young musical genius into a delightful excursion into the world of imagination that is so essential to childhood. (Ages 4–7)

Listen.

A little boy named

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

is playing the piano.

Look.

He is playing backward!

He is playing blindfolded!

Imagine.

What must his life be like?

Play, Mozart, play!

Acclaimed artist Peter Sís introduces very young children to the child genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in this picture book tribute to the beauty of listening, looking, imagining, and -- most of all -- playing!