"The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven" by Jonah Winter, Barry Blitt illustrator; Schwartz and Wade Books, ages 4-9, $15.95

Award-winning author Jonah Winter teams up with New Yorker cartoonist Barry Blitt to create this "mockumentary," a comical riff based on a historical fact: Ludwig van Beethoven lived in no less than 39 apartments. It's a brilliant, well-executed concept to introduce youngsters to the classical composer. The book is sure to capture young imaginations.

The text clearly separates fact from fiction. For example, it is a fact, we learn early on, that Ludwig van Beethoven owned five legless pianos and composed great works sitting on the floor (which explains why Peanuts character Schroeder avoided a chair). In the opening pages, Beethoven begins his game of musical apartments.

"After two centuries of research, we still have no clues as to how all the pianos made it from one apartment to the next," writes Winter. "Nor can we be certain that the following sentence is true, but here it is: Ludwig van Beethoven's next home was a basement apartment in a dangerous part of town. Here he composed Piano Sonatas 3 through 17, his Violin Concerto in D Major, and the Second Symphony."

Winter poses the question, "Why did Ludwig move after only eight and a half days?"

He suggests answers, sleuthlike, that will get youngsters thinking.

"Was it, as his diary suggests, because of the 'hideous stinky cheese smell' that filled his apartment? We do not know. Nor do we truly know how the pianos made it out of the building. But scuff marks discovered in the hallway can mean only one thing: The pianos must have been slid through the back door, then drawn up to the roof by a system of pulleys and lowered onto a second-floor balcony at the front of the building, where the neighbors must have been kind enough to allow the movers to wheel the pianos through their apartment to the stairway, down the stairs, and out the front door."

Readers of The New Yorker will instantly recognize Blitt's illustration style (he's done more than 20 covers for the magazine). His pen-and-ink and watercolor artwork is as creatively clever as the text.

"Diego" by Jonah Winter, Jeanette Winter illustrator; Knopf Books for Young Readers, ages 6-10, $15.99

When originally published in 1991, "Diego" won the New York Times award for best illustrated children's book. This new edition coincides with the 50th anniversary of the death of Mexican artist Diego Rivera.

The excellent picture-book biography follows his life from birth to death. The text, in Spanish and English, is spare and the story deeply moving.

OF NOTE

The New York Times recently reviewed "Don't Touch My Hat!" — the latest picture book from author and illustrator James Rumford, who lives in Manoa.

According to the review, "Rumford's bold gouaches set the tone for a Wild West spoof.

Without that sweat-stiff, trail-dusted, bullet-riddled hat, Sheriff John could do nothing — or so he thought. After a mishap in the dark, he rounds up the bad guys at the bank, ranch and saloon wearing ... well, let's just say Sheriff John has 'a lot of rethinkin' to do.'

The authentic look of the classic frontier images adds dimension to a hilarious tale."