An Opera Kids will Enjoy!

Here's a great read-aloud for Christmas that is also a cultural experience! Amahl and the Night Visitors is an Italian opera composed by Gian-Carlo Mennotti in 1951 for NBC-TV. The book we read is a narrative by Frances Frost which "preserves the exact dialogue of the opera".

My kids loved this book -- it took only three lunchtimes to read but the pictures and the text kept them enraptured the entire time. There are silly parts -- King Kaspar is hilarious -- and sad parts, light parts and deep parts -- but the whole is a wonderful masterpiece. The ending is particularly dramatic and wonderful.

This is a great way to introduce the kids to opera -- check your local library for a copy of the book and the video....your kids will clamor for more.