The Piano

”The Piano“ begins with a loud ”BANG“: piano keys fly around and become the start of something entirely new. Sven Völker views the keys as play materials and continually transforms them into—sometimes very loud and sometimes very quiet—animals. Many double-page spreads are filled with fantastic, bold graphics and matching onomatopoeia, until, in the end, penguins form a keyboard and you hear a small, quiet, and happy ”pling.“
”The Piano” playfully encourages children’s creativity and demonstrates how much can come from very little. The onomatopoeia also creates spaces that can be wonderfully played. Does a dog go ”Woof Woof“ or ”Wau Wau,“ or...? The picture book includes a dictionary that translates English onomatopoeia into German. The funny new vocabulary provides plenty of inspiration to create new sound words.
Warning: Those who read “The Piano” may think of tigers, dogs, penguins, or... the next time they play the piano!
Sven Völker is a professor of experiment and strategy in graphic design at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences and author of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2019 ”A Million Dots”.