The Story of the Trapp Family Singers
Recommended. Age: 12+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Maria is a young woman who wants to be a nun in Austria. She is sent to teach the children of Captain von Trapp, and she marries him. The family loses its money, starts to sing, and leaves home when the Nazis come. This true story is full of faith and is good for kids about twelve and up. This is the real story behind The Sound of Music, and it is more Catholic than the film. The family has a chapel at home with daily Mass, and Maria keeps asking one question: what is the will of God? Crisis Magazine recommends it as a family read-aloud, and Mater Amabilis assigns it under Catholic Culture. The film covers only the opening chapters. The rest is the hard and happy work of starting over in America. Parents should know it has some dated racial language and the Captain's death.
For parents
Read aloud from about nine or ten. Independent reading from twelve. It is a long memoir at about 330 pages, and Mater Amabilis gives it to Level 4 students as independent reading. Tell your child at the start that the movie changed many things. Ask: how does Maria find out what God wants? What does the family do when the money is gone? Why do they refuse to stay under the Nazis when staying would be easier? Crisis Magazine points to the home chapel and daily Mass. Ask your child how having the Blessed Sacrament in the house changed the family. Readers report dated words about Black Americans that reflect 1949. Say plainly that every person is made in the image of God and that we do not speak that way. Readers also report spanking, miscarriages mentioned briefly, and the Captain's illness and death near the end. The last chapters are sad, so stay close to a tender child.