Hallelujah! The Story of Leonard Cohen

Gr 1-4–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.