TWO PIANO TUNERS

Not more story but more text and fewer pictures, perhaps too much text and too few pictures (holding Goldie the Dollmaker as the perfect example). Quite simply and sublimely, Reuben Weinstock is a master piano-tuner and his orphaned granddaughter Debbie, who wakes hm-m-m-m-m-ing middle C, would be another. Does she want to wear something prettier than her jumper to go to the Auditorium with Grandpa while he tunes the grand piano? No, she'd wear pants—"I want to help you." Waiting to surprise Mr. Weinstock is his old friend, the famous pianist Isaac Lipman, and when Debbie takes matters into her own hands—tuning Mrs. Perlman's piano instead of asking for a postponement—he backs her up: her grandfather has insisted on teaching her to play ("You know, I wanted something better for her") but her real talent is for tuning, and "What could be better than doing what you love?" To Mr. Weinstock, Isaac Lipman's triumphant concert is decisive: Debbie praises the piano not the player. For those who are not attuned, illustrations of the enumerated implements and the manner of their use would have been helpful; the occasional drawings are almost incidental, affecting the read-aloudability too. But Debbie is totally disarming—walking down the street thinking "Hello, dogs, here comes the piano tuner"—for a select audience.