The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons in One Day: Press the note to hear Vivaldi's music (Volume 1) (The Story Orchestra, 1)

The story and music are both wonderful, and the music is very clear, not mechanical sounding, like in some other books we have. Even the hardcover and illustrations are very beautiful. We have a few books of this series and the they are often requested as the bedtime story

I bought all of these books, and I am leaving this same review on all of them. My two-year-old loves them! The music is very clear as long as you hold the book upright, and, to be honest, I am surprised by how clear it is even when it's laying down. The illustrations are beautiful, and there are so many things to look at on each page! For instance, in the Four Seasons book, there are easter eggs in spring, and on one page in another book, there is a tiny spider. I could talk to my toddler about one page for five minutes easily because there is so much to look at. In some of the books, there are some thoughtful illustrations to demonstrate the instruments being played. In the Carnival of Animals book, there is a bunny playing a flute, for instance, when there is music that is mostly played by flutes. Also my toddler is able to press the buttons. It is a little hard, but he manages it okay. Well worth the price tag!

Our toddler Grandson has often asked to hear the Four Seasons- he liked it from an early age and he loves this book. I would recommend it for any age, especially older children, though our young grandson loves it. This book was very engaging for all of us to identify the season with the song excerpt. The pictures are beautifully done, the story is ok- not as engaging as the music and pictures, but not a detraction. The entire family was excited about this book!

We really enjoy the Story Orchestra series. We first introduced the Nutcracker to my then 2 years old and he absolutely loved it and enjoyed the music so much that he will request us to play the Nutcracker on Spotify while driving in the car. Now he is in love with Vivaldi's music because of this new book. The story is simple and easy to follow by a toddler and they are such a great way to introduce classical music to your little ones!

This is an absolutely beautiful book and a wonderful introduction to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. There "plot" essentially follows a girl through a day in her village during which she experiences all of the different seasons, each accompanied by excerpts from the corresponding movements of Vivaldi's concerti. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and the musical excerpts actually sound quite good -- not an audiophile experience by any means, but not as tinny or annoying as I expected. Everything about the book seems high quality: the pages have a nice heft and texture to them, the illustrations have bright vivid colors, and the binding is strong and sturdy. It's almost a piece of art.My only small complaint is that the buttons which trigger the music can be difficult to push, especially for small fingers. The circuit board is contained within the back cover of the book, so activating the sounds sometimes requires transmitting the pressure through 8-10 pages of the book, which is not easy for 18-month-old fingers! I suspect the only other option would be to have buttons contained in each page, which would obviously make the entire book much thicker.The bottom line, though, is that my daughter loves this gorgeous book and wants to read it several times a day, and that makes ME happy!

I bought this for my 3-year-old daughter who loves Welcome to the Symphony: A Musical Exploration of the Orchestra Using Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. She loves classical music, and being able to make it play by herself is awesome. Unlike Welcome to the Symphony, however, the buttons aren't really buttons. Rather, there's a round circle printed on each spread that you are supposed to push. Unfortunately, this mechanism isn't the best for little readers. If the page is just off or you're holding the book on your lap just so, it's impossible to get the music to play. It's a major problem for my daughter who wants to "do it myself." We've worked out a way to do it together, but sometimes I even struggle to make it play.If you can get past the tricky "button," The Story Orchestra really is worth buying. The story is charming and the illustrations are beautiful. Each spread is intricate and perfectly paired with movements from the Four Seasons. The music clips, too, are lovely. We can spend 20 minutes with just this one book.

These books are absolutely wonderful! They are so beautifully made and my toddler loves them. This one is her favorite. We read it almost every night. I love that she is being exposed to classical music in such a fun way. I also love how the buttons are so well done. They are part of the page instead of being plastic and cheap looking on the side like most books. I also love how beautiful they are! They are works of art that look so lovely on my daughters book shelf. All around an amazing find that I am so glad I purchased!

We love this series of books! I bought this one for my 3-year-old and it is a wonderful introduction to orchestral music. A fun story about a little girl, her puppy, and an apple tree accompanies the story with little audio clips from each movement. And the illustrations are beautiful and give a lot to talk about. This story in particular is really great for discussions about how music can make use feel or conjure memories. At night my son will fall asleep listening to the full audio of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and can name each season. He particularly enjoys listening for the storm 😊The buttons can be a little tricky, but we feel that it doesn’t bother us enough to dock a star.I with there were more in this series!