The Dulcimer Boy

William has the brown hair and Jules the gold. They are ten months old. This dulcimer is all their father has to give them. A weathered stranger delivers an old wicker chest to the Carbuncles' doorstep. In it they find two sleeping baby boys and a beautiful silver-stringed instrument. For the sake of appearing charitable to their neighbors, the Carbuncles take the boys in, but William and Jules are consigned to the chilly attic, and the dulcimer is locked away -- until William is old enough to play it, whereupon he discovers a natural musical talent that leads him on a bittersweet journey to self-discovery. Featuring luminous illustrations by Caldecott Honor artist Brian Selznick, this haunting tale by National Book Award finalist Tor Seidler has a transcendent lyricism that soars as gracefully as William's mysterious music. A weathered stranger delivers an old wicker chest to the Carbuncles' doorstep. In it they find two sleeping baby boys and a beautiful silver-stringed instrument. For the sake of appearing charitable to their neighbors, the Carbuncles take the boys in, but William and Jules are consigned to the chilly attic, and the dulcimer is locked away -- until William is old enough to play it, whereupon he discovers a natural musical talent that leads him on a bittersweet journey to self-discovery.

Featuring luminous illustrations by Caldecott Honor artist Brian Selznick, this haunting tale by National Book Award finalist Tor Seidler has a transcendent lyricism that soars as gracefully as William's mysterious music.

Here's a freshly illustrated edition of a slightly mystical story of two boy babies deposited on a New England doorstep with a note giving their names and a dulcimer that is ''all their father has to give them.''

A weathered stranger delivers an old wicker chest to the Carbuncles' doorstep. In it they find two sleeping baby boys and an enchanting silver-stringed instrument. For the sake of appearing charitable, the Carbuncles take the boys in, but William and Jules are consigned to the chilly attic, and the dulcimer is locked away — until William is old enough to play it. In an unforgettable journey, William discovers a natural musical talent and the key to unlocking his and Jules's mysterious past. Having been left on the doorstep of the Carbuncles home, brothers William and Jules find little love in their adoptive home as they are forced to live in an attic, yet when things become even worse, William decides to take his one possession, a string dulcimer, and flee his situation in the hopes of finding a better life for the both of them. Twin brothers are abandoned on their uncle's doorstep in early twentieth-century New England with nothing but a silver-stringed dulcimer.