Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau's Flute
by Julie Dunlap & Marybeth Lorbiecki
32 pages // published in 2002 // children's historical fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Louisa May Alcott is fascinated by her Concord neighbor Henry David Thoreau. He carries a flute in his pocket and a pencil behind his ear, and he takes the children of the town on nature excursions.
Writing is difficult for Louisa, so she admires the way Mr. Thoreau can jot down a few lines in his notebook when a thought occurs. Through their friendship, will Mr. Thoreau be able to help Louisa find her own inspiration?
The exquisite woodcuts of Caldecott Medal winner Mary Azarian transport readers to nineteenth-century Massachusetts to discover a friendship between two of America's most beloved authors, and their search to find their own inner voices.
Louisa May Alcott is fascinated by her Concord neighbor Henry David Thoreau. He carries a flute in his pocket and a pencil behind his ear, and he takes the children of the town on nature excursions.
Writing is difficult for Louisa, so she admires the way Mr. Thoreau can jot down a few lines in his notebook when a thought occurs. Through their friendship, will Mr. Thoreau be able to help Louisa find her own inspiration?
The exquisite woodcuts of Caldecott Medal winner Mary Azarian transport readers to nineteenth-century Massachusetts to discover a friendship between two of America's most beloved authors, and their search to find their own inner voices.
A lovely picture book which details an era of Louisa May Alcott's childhood, when she desired to follow the call of her neighborly Pied Piper, the famed writer, Henry David Thoreau. He may have seemed like an eccentric man to most others, but to Louisa, he embodied everything she wished she could do too. Her days that she was allowed to follow him were some of the brightest of her childhood. Days spent rambling in the woods, rowing down the river, and spending the day berry-picking. All while enjoying Mr. Thoreau's beautiful flute music.
Louisa had a free spirit, and so did he. As this little story shows, Louisa was greatly inspired by this man.
The illustrations nicely accompany the text. Lovely colors are used all throughout. I enjoyed the story overall.
Thoreau did not live to see Louisa's great success as an author. After Thoreau's death in 1862, Louisa wrote a tribute poem for him, entitled "Thoreau's Flute". I have included this poem below for your reading pleasure (via The Atlantic).
- - - - - - - - - -
We, sighing, said, “Our Pan is dead;
His pipe hangs mute beside the river; —
Around his wistful sunbeams quiver,
But Music’s airy voice is fled.
Spring mourns as for untimely frost;
The bluebird chants a requiem;
The willow-blossom waits for him; —
The Genius of the wood is lost.”
Then from the flute, untouched by hands,
There came a low, harmonious breath:
“For such as he there is no death; —
His life the eternal life commands;
Above man’s aims his nature rose:
The wisdom of a just continent,
And tuned to poetry Life’s prose.
“Haunting the hills, the stream, the wild,
Swallow and aster, lake and pine,
To him grew human or divine, —
Fit mates for this large-hearted child.
Such homage Nature ne’er forgets,
And yearly on the coverlid
’Neath which her darling lieth hid
Will write his name in violets.
“To him no vain regrets belong,
Whose soul, that finer instrument,
Gave to the world no poor lament,
But wood-notes ever sweet and strong.
O lonely friend! he still will be
A potent presence, though unseen, —
Steadfast, sagacious, and serene:
Seek not for him, — he is with thee.”
-Louisa May Alcott
Thoreau's Flute
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