Hallelujah

"Pendon’s cover art for this glimpse of the man and career of Leonard Cohen widens the hole in the middle of a vinyl record to spotlight the subject’s long-faced profile, hat back on his head, arms cradling the guitar he was seldom without. This charming picture will pull readers into the page to find out more: such a mournful face is provocatively juxtaposed with the declaration, “Hallelujah!” Endpapers show a photorealistic portrait of Cohen pasted like a movie poster on a wall but actually against a backdrop of city buildings; it’s the mural the illustrator spearheaded, honoring Cohen in Montreal where he was born. Raised in a house full of music on Shabbat and in the synagogue where his grandfather was a rabbi, the boy was fascinated when he came across a gentleman in the park playing Spanish guitar. “Can you teach me?” He became a songwriter but was nagged by the feeling that one song containing the one thing he needed to say lingered within him. Back matter provides more details about his life and the mural project. This is the right treatment to pique children’s interest into knowing or finding out more; the author’s language is sentimental but sincere, while the graphic novel-like art in spreads of city scenes and stage scenes are atmospheric and bold. Rabins, also a musician, has offered a link where she performs her cover of the titular song. VERDICT A valentine to Cohen and all artistry, this book reminds older readers to look within and may inspire children to aim high with their own gifts. --School Library Journal

"Centering the now well-known song 'Hallelujah,' Rabins and Pendon movingly recount the life of Canadian Jewish musician Leonard Cohen (1934-2016). Early pages frame Cohen as a deep-feeling youth from a musical family, and text carefully draws on the subject's lyrics to characterize his musical awakening ("From that day on, Leonard wrote songs about the world around him—about waking up with messy hair, about seeing a bird perched on a wire"). Plotting moves quickly to Cohen's professional success, and pages proceed to zero in on the protagonist's forbearance in connection with the completion of 'Hallelujah'—a tune about 'how life is as mysterious as a secret chord.' Though the song is initially rejected by Cohen's record company, it slowly finds its way 'inside hearts all over the world.' Acoustic guitars abound in loose cartoon portraits, which capture the joyfully quotidian spirit of the musician's work. An author's note and further biographical information conclude. Ages 5-8."

—Publisher's Weekly