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Author Review: Opal Wheeler
Opal Wheeler was born in 1898 in Wisconsin. She was a musician from very early in her life, even composing music to go with Mother Goose rhymes when she was six! Her father would slip a nickel into her apron pocket for every song she wrote.
She went to the State Normal School, the Universities of Wisconsin and Washington, and Columbia University. Later she studied music in Italy and France and taught music to handicapped children. It was then that she discovered that there weren't any biographies of composer written for younger children.
Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher teamed up to write simple biographies of composers. These books were published by E. P. Dutton & Company. After writing for ten years, she married her publisher who was president of Dutton.
These out-of-print books were printed in large print with a good deal of white space on each page and lots of black-and-white pictures throughout. Another unique detail in these books is the inclusion of actual music! So, if you can read music, you can play the tunes that the authors are discussing in the books. (Guess that's what they did in the days before stories on cassette tapes and CDs!)
"These charming books are not comprehensive, in-depth studies, complete with information on every area of a composers' life. The authors believed that young students did not need to know the neuroses, psychoses, and shortcomings of the composers whose music they played. A little interesting information is good, a few charming anecdotes are even better. The cute sketches make these books some of the best biographies available." -- Jan Bloom, Who Should We Then Read?
List of titles by AUTHOR:
Please email me if you can add addition copyright dates or illustrators.
Composers Series by Wheeler and Deucher:
- Adventures of Richard Wagner, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Floyd I. Webb
- Curtain Calls for Franz Schubert, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher
- Curtain Calls for Joseph Haydn and Sebastian Bach, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher
- Curtain Calls for Wolfgang Mozart, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher
- Edward Grieg, Boy of the Northland, by Sybil Deucher
- Edward MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher, illustrated by Mary Greenwalt, c1940
- Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher, illustrated by Mary Greenwalt, c1939
- Frederic Chopin: Son of Poland - Early Years, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Christine Price, c1948
- Frederic Chopin: Son of Poland - Later Years, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Christine Price
- Handel at the Court of Kings, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Mary Greenwalt, c1943
- Joseph Haydn, the Merry Little Peasant, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher, illustrated by Mary Greenwalt, c1936
- Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Mary Greenwalt, c1942
- Mozart, the Wonder Boy, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher, illustrated by Mary Greenwalt, c1934, 1941. In 1941, 35 pages of music were added at the end of the story.
- Paganini: Master of Strings, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Henry S. Gillette
- Peter Tschaikowsky and the Nutcracker Ballet, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Christine Price
- Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Christine Price
- Sebastian Bach, The Boy From Thuringia, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher, illustrated by Mary Greenwalt, c1937
- Stephen Foster and His Little Dog Tray, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Mary Greenwalt
- The Story of Peter Tschaikowsky: Part I, by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Christine Price
- The Young Brahms, by Sybil Deucher
Artists Series, by Wheeler and Deucher:
- Giotto Tended the Sheep, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher
- Millet Tilled the Soil, by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher
Music Anthologies:
- Sing for America, by Opal Wheeler
- Sing for Christmas: A Round of Christmas Carols and Stories of Carols, by Opal Wheeler
- Sing in Praise: A Collection of Best Loved Hymns, by Opal Wheeler
- Sing Mother Goose, by Opal Wheeler
- The Singing Choir: A Book of Services for Schools, by Opal Wheeler
Other:
- The Miracle Dish, by Opal Wheeler
- Moses, by Opal Wheeler
- Stars Over Bethlehem, by Opal Wheeler
- Journey To Bethlehem, by Opal Wheeler
- Hans Andersen: Son of Denmark, by Opal Wheeler
- HMS Pinafore, adapted from Gilbert and Sullivan by Opal Wheeler
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Last Updated: October 3, 2003
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