Symphony for a Broken Orchestra: How Philadelphia Collected Sounds to Save Music

Millward’s scribbly, digital illustrations and high-octane settings and colors have a childlike quality perfectly attuned to the subject. The sounds, rendered in black letters with yellow highlighting, dominate the designs; musical notes and bright squiggles pulsate across the pages.—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)The figures in Millward’s digitally rendered illustrations reflect contemporary Philadelphia’s racial and ethnic diversity, while bold yellow highlights pop from the saturated palette, emphasizing musical instruments and onomatopoeia. Ignatow’s reiterative, sound-focused text builds toward the final symphony.—Publishers Weekly (starred review)This picture book tells how the city of Philadelphia turned its scrapped instruments into an exquisite celebration of music. Colorful, childlike artwork sets the right tempo, depicting students with varying skin colors playing musical instruments around the city… . A euphonious and unique look at urban renewal.—Booklist (starred review)

Amy Ignatow is the author-illustrator of the Popularity Papers series and Mighty Odds trilogy. She lives in Philadelphia with her family.

Gwen Millward is the illustrator of many books for children, including Super Milly and the Super School Day by Stephanie Clarkson. She lives in the United Kingdom.