Summary

Chapter 18, “Fred Rogers, Musician.” “Music,” author King comments in narration, “was always a lifeline and an inspiration for Fred Rogers” (271). King goes on to describe how Fred himself frequently commented on how he released difficult feelings from his childhood through music, and how he included those ideas into conversations and stories for the “Neighborhood.” This chapter also contains a reference to the story told earlier in the book about Fred being followed and bullied (Part 1, Chapter 1); how he was told not to care about what other people thought; and how he learned, through expressing his feelings via music, that it was both possible and healthy to care, and to both acknowledge and release difficult feelings (i.e. caring) when they happened.

Also in this chapter, there are several anecdotal discussions about how Fred composed all the music for the “Neighborhood,” but was...