Full of joy and discovery, Louis Thomas' The Music of Life is a simple, melodious picture book about finding big inspiration and beauty in the smallest of details.

At night when everyone else is asleep, one artist sits awake--pencil in hand, stuck. Lenny is a composer, but this evening, no music floats from his head.

Then as night breaks into dawn, Lenny's cat, Pipo, begins lapping milk. Lick lick lick. Birds yawn awake, singing in the trees. Tweet tweet A bike bell tings on the street below. Suddenly, Lenny notices a rhythm to the world around him. He pulls on his coat and walks through the city to write down every sound he can find. Lenny listens to a gardener, a jogger, a dogwalker, and more neighborhood characters.

Finally, the morning's sounds culminate in a sun-dappled symphony that Lenny conducts in the center of the park.