Beethoven Lives Upstairs by Barbara Nichol Illustrated by Scott Cameron: Historical Fiction

This is a dialogue expressed through letters of a nephew, Christopher, and his uncle Karl. Christopher’s father recently died and his other is now financially strapped. She ends up renting out the second story in the Christopher’s house to a madman Ludwig van Beethoven. As the story continues, Christopher’s frustrations and embarrassments become empathy as Beethoven deals with being deaf and a profound love for the music that he creates. Real events in Beethoven’s life are told through the fictional letters of a boy and his uncle. I enjoyed reading this book and I think it appropriately explains a person’s differences and how important it is to try to understand them and how not to judge a person by those differences. I believe students would greatly benefit from reading this and it could open the door in discussions dealing handicaps.