The Mozart Question by Michael Morpugo

"When Lesley is sent to Venice to interview world-renowned violinist Paulo Levi on his fiftieth birthday, she cannot believe her luck. She is told that she can ask him anything at all - except the Mozart question. But it is Paulo himself who decides that it is time for the truth to be told. And so follows the story of his parents as Jewish prisoners of war, forced to play Mozart violin concertos for the enemy; how they watched fellow Jews being led off to their deaths and knew that they were playing for their lives. As the story unfolds, the journalist begins to understand the full horror of war, and how one group of musicians survived using the only weapon they had - music."

A beautifully written book equally beautifully illustrated, which uses the musical ability of a young boy as a window into the horrors of Auschwitz where a group of musicians were spared to play chamber music to the poor creatures going to the gas chambers to keep them calm. A short great introduction to a subject too painful to broach with children but a story that must be told to stop it happening again.