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Be inspired by the true story of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, Paraguay, when author Susan Hood comes to talk about “Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay” at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 3 in the Rotary Room at the Fairfield Public Library.
“Ada’s Violin” unfolds through the eyes of Ada Ríos, who had long-dreamed of playing an instrument. In her small, poor town, doing so was never an option until a local engineer, Favio Chávez, had an idea. What if he turned some of the garbage — the town’s only resource — into instruments? Using scraps of dirty oil cans, jars, wood, forks and other junk in the landfill, he and other locals built beautiful musical instruments — violins, flutes, cellos and drums. From this ingenuity, the Recycled Orchestra was formed with the local children learning and performing Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. As the children fine-tuned their skills, they started to garner attention.
Ada and her fellow members have now played concerts throughout their home country, South America, and the world. The orchestra has been profiled on the television show “60 Minutes” and also is the subject of a documentary, “The Landfill Harmonic.”
Hood worked directly with the Recycled Orchestra to create her book and plans to donate a portion of her earnings to the orchestra. She has written more than 200 picture books. “Spike, The Mixed-Up Monster” won the 2013 International Latino Award. Her picture book, “The Tooth Mouse,” was named a 2013 Best Book of the Year by Bank Street and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center.
Prior to becoming an author, Hood was a children’s magazine editor at Scholastic and Instructor Magazine, a book editor at Sesame Workshop and the children’s content director of Nick Jr. Magazine. “Ada's Violin” is her first nonfiction picture book. She lives in Connecticut.
Books will be available for purchase and signing through the Fairfield University Bookstore. Registration is requested. Click here to register or for more information about this and other programs.
The Fairfield Library is at 1080 Old Post Road.
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