Kids into Books: Jellybean

Author: Tessa Duder

Age: 9-12 years

Publisher: Puffin, $12.95


The studio is long and high-ceilinged. Compared with other people's living-rooms, it has an empty feel to it.

The floor is just bare wood with a couple of faded oriental rugs.

There is a piano, a tall fireplace with flowered tiles down each side, a few chairs, a divan, and a special spotlight shining directly onto the music stand.

On a dresser and on shelves along the walls are many books, some pottery plates and vases, two or three paintings, posters advertising concerts, many piles of music, a tape deck, and cassettes arranged in neat rows.

Despite the gas fire and a half-hearted beam of late sun through the window, it is nearly as cold inside the house as out.