'Piercing beauty'

The Red Piano has been named as one of the New Zealand Listener’s Top 50 Children’s Book of 2009. Says reviewer David Larsen:

THE RED PIANO (Wilkins/Farago, NZ$39.99) by Andre Leblanc and the French artist Barroux is even stronger visually, dotting its stark red and black landscape with bluntly inked human figures to suggest the harsh realities of China’s Cultural Revolution. This is the story of a young concert pianist sent to a labour camp for the revolution years and forbidden to play or practise music. The book’s piercing beauty is all that makes it bearable.