Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan

Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan.

FIVE STARS!!!  The website dictionary.com defines music as an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.  This is the perfect description of the book Echo.  This story is about seven children who live in different parts of the world during different time periods.  The bulk of the story revolves around the lives of Friedrich, Mike, and Ivy.  Each of the children has a special musical gift, but each has a crisis within their families that risks these gifts.  The one thing they have in common is a harmonica that may or may not be magical.  This is by far one of the best fiction books I have read in a very long time.  I’ll admit that I love music and that may be one of the reasons why I was so drawn to this book, but I really believe anyone (musical or not) would truly love this book.  Between the music references and the World War II history, I had a very hard time putting this book down.  At almost 600 pages I still read this book in less than three days.  I know the size will look intimidating to some, but just give it a try...you won’t be sorry.  To learn more about harmonicas visit http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_ii_harmonica.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonica.  To learn more about Pam Munoz Ryan and her books visit http://www.pammunozryan.com/index.html.