Hearing the Music in a YA Verse Novel
English Festival’s 2025 featured author Susan Hood’s Alias Anna
by Lliam Shaw and Hannah Lewis
The English Teacher Who Couldn’t Tell a Sonata from a Sonnet*
When Hannah read Alias Anna, collaboratively written by Susan Hood and protagonist Zhanna’s real-life grandson Greg Dawson, in preparation for her first WPCTE English Festival virtual book club session with her 10-12th-graders, she was immediately struck by the musicality: first of all, verse novels already lend themselves to a certain rhythmic or melodic way of reading, even when written in free verse. Were we to judge a book by its cover, Alias prepares us to engage with music before we even crack the book, with the Balbuso Twins’ and Laura Mock’s beautiful cover design featuring (ostensibly) protagonist Zhanna dressed in a piano-key-and-sheet-music scarf.
Once she started reading, though, she knew that music was playing a much larger role in the text than she could unpack herself. From the moment Ukrainian Jewish girl Zhanna describes her childhood attraction to the mournful music of funeral processions in “Music was the Magnet” (Hood & Dawson 19) to her radio performance of Bach’s Two-Part Invention No. 1 in C Major, played entirely in the dark (40), to her death-defying run away from where the Nazis held the Ukrainian Jews to rescue her treasure–a piece of sheet music she could already play by heart, Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu (101), up to her incognito performance of the Chopin Scherzo in B-flat Minor–played as “Anna” for an audience of loathed Nazi officers (184) and even her poetically just performance of her beloved Fantaisie-Impromptu before an audience of liberated Jews as herself, Jewish Zhanna (271), music drove the story in ways that Hannah couldn’t understand with her limited knowledge of Central-and-Eastern European classical music traditions. She reached out to a colleague who connected her to Lliam Shaw, middle-school music teacher and classical music enthusiast, who was happy to share his expertise with Hannah’s eager English Festival students
Music History as Human History
Lliam is a believer of the self-coined phrase “Music history is human history.” There is always a connection between what is going on in the world, or “textbook history” as he calls it, and what is going on with the music output at the time. When he examined the musical selections in Alias Anna, it was easy to see how the specific pieces were chosen for emphasis, as they serve purpose in both a narrative and historical context. Bach’s music, specifically his music for keyboards, is known for its intricate sound and deep spirituality, but most notably, its demanding technicality. Bach transcended just composition, just as Da Vinci did engineering, and Newton did physics, becoming both the pinnacle and the foundation of the field. The choice to specifically name Bach was not just some grab-bag idea, but a thoughtful one, representing Zhanna’s technical mastery and her profound spiritual connection to her instrument – she doesn’t need to rely on seeing the keys because, whether it be in memory or muscular, the music is within her.
The Chopin pieces are especially weighty, considering their historical significance and context, which may have escaped the English Fest students’ attention without Lliam’s expertise. Chopin was a Polish composer who, just like Zhanna, witnessed political upheaval, living through both the November Uprising of 1830 where Poles rebelled against Russian rule, and the 1848 February Revolution in Paris. His music, while not outrightly political, represents his belief in independence and nationalism, a symbol the Nazis were more than willing to erase. There are other comparisons between Chopin and Zhanna, too, such as their virtuosity recognized at a young age, dedication to the piano, and deep familial connections, which make the choice to emphasize Chopin clearly effective, as much as the mention of Bach.
Not only is the choice of composer a refined pick, but the specific pieces too. Chopin’s Scherzo in B-Flat Minor is a turbulent, expressive piece with extreme technical demand, which many believe to be his most outright radical composition, directly influenced by his feelings of the political revolutions he witnessed in real time. Listen to the composition, linked here and above, and you can hear the chaos within the music.
The irony of her performance can not be overstated enough, and Hood highlighted that in her retelling – Zhanna is a Jewish girl, actively hiding among her enemy as Anna, masterfully playing music composed by a Polish composer, who had similarly witnessed political persecution, to an audience who wants to eradicate both Jewish AND Polish culture and history. The piece reflects both the complexity of the situation and the immense internal struggle Zhanna is feeling at the very moment of performance.
When you listened to the performance, could you hear it?
Collaboration for Stronger Classrooms
The role of music in Alias Anna exemplifies how young adult verse novels can interweave creative elements to enhance both meaning and form. Many verse novels inherently carry rhythm or musicality, and the collaboration of Hood and Dawson adds an extra layer to that. Susan Hood collaborated with an expert–Zhanna’s very own grandson–marrying the authentic story of one with the narrative capabilities of the other.
Just as Hannah reached out to Lliam to better understand the musical complexities and nuances, Hood’s collaboration with Dawson allowed her to capture both the historical facts and the profound emotional resonance of the real story of a real person, playing real music with real history. This all goes to show how much collaboration in both the creation and interpretation of literature can enrich our understanding of it, whether it’s an author working with a primary source, or a teacher partnering with a colleague to unlock a deeper meaning for her students, and in turn, herself.
We will end with a call to action:
What expertise do your colleagues hold that could enhance the experience of the readers in your classroom? Ask around and find out!
William "Lliam" Shaw (he/him) is a music educator in the greater Philadelphia area, teaching grades 6-8 online since 2022. He is a notable people person, and very enthusiastic about many types of music and how it affects us day to day. His hobbies also include games, film and other multimedia, and he thrives during baseball season, but has 3 cats to keep him busy all year. You can email him at wshaw@palcs.org.
Hannah Lewis (she/her) has been teaching English Language Arts online since 2014 in the greater Pittsburgh area. She currently teaches eleventh-graders at the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School. She began to serve as vice president of WPCTE in 2022. She is an avid reader, hiker, and traveler who loves poetry and her cats--but, most of all, her teenage daughter. Find her on LinkedIn or email her at hlewis3@palcs.org [Updated 9/27/24]
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If you have stories of successful collaborations across disciplines, WPCTE would love to hear them! Reach out to Vice President Hannah Lewis, or complete the Blog Pitch form here.
Interested in getting involved in next year's EnglishFest? Reach out to Executive Director Carol Frow or President Amy Bouch for more. Find their contact information here.
Or, if you're a cyber school teacher, attend a monthly Cyber Teacher Coffee Hour and talk in real time with Vice President Hannah Lewis about how she is making EnglishFest work for her cyber school students, plus hear from others teaching online.
*Thanks to ChatGPT for the subheading title. The ones I came up with were MUCH worse -Hannah
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