The premise of the story is that keeping time is part of learning to play the piano. The names of several famous composers are included, perhaps that young piano students might recognize them and find it relatable? Who knows? But mostly, it’s a simple story about a stray cat who magically improves the students’ playing by using her tail as a metronome. After the cat disappears, things unfortunately go back as before. A complaining neighbor calls the police to report the quality of the music which is certainly not a helpful message for struggling students. A happy ending is achieved when the cat returns, followed by her three kittens and she resumes her spot. Anyway, not really worth reading despite the cute illustrations and cover art. ( )

I would not recommend this book to early readers because it has difficult words and a lot of words of each page. But overall this is a good fiction book that is about a piano teacher that lives of Peach Lane. The book goes through what each day looks like for the piano teacher and how one day she was playing a song a cat climbed through the window. She names the cat Beethoven and he loves all the students but one day Beethoven doesn’t show up for one of the students lessons. Mrs. Merriwether begins worry but a few days later he shows up and the lessons continues. This is a good informational book with a fictional twist. It gives popular mucials figures names and different forms of music. ( )