Review||Pam Muñoz Ryan. 2015||Echo

 Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan is a truly fantastic novel that follows the journey of a harmonica and its owners over a span of years, and how the music produced by it helps the owner overcome their challenges. It portrays the life and difficulties of 3 children and how the harmonica helps and intertwines them with each other. The book begins with a young boy, Otto, and trio of enchanted sisters as they hand him the harmonica to be passed on to many others after. The story then moves on to portray Friedrich from Germany during the rise of Hitler, Mike from Pennsylvania 2 years later, and Ivy from California during world war II.

  Friedrich is shunned from the society as the birthmark on his face did not match the ideal “perfect” according to Hitler. Mike and his brother live in an orphanage with poor conditions. However, Mike and his brother are adopted by a wealthy woman, Mrs. Sturbridge. They are initially happy but soon find out that the woman doesn’t want them. Ivy, the daughter of migrant farmers, moves to a new place to take care of a farm owned by Japanese people, the Yamamotos, who have been taken to internment camps because of the war. She faces a challenge as she finds out that Mexican children are forced to go to a different school than everybody else.

 Friedrich’s dream to become a conductor lives on as he finds the harmonica which gives him hope and helps him through his struggles. When his father was taken away, Friedrich decides to pass on his harmonica as he goes on a mission to save his father. Mike encounters the harmonica and is immediately drawn to it. Again, it becomes a source of comfort as he makes a deal with Mrs. Sturbridge to let his brother stay even at his own expense. Ivy plays the harmonica to help her manage the stress from moving, and the situation at her school. Furthermore, her racist neighbor thinks that the Yamamotos are spies and demands to search their house, but finds nothing.

 All 3 stories end in a cliffhanger and are completed and connected in the epilogue. They all achieve their goals as Friedrich becomes a conductor, Mike and his brother have a family, and Ivy’s family through constant persistence manage to abolish segregation in the school. Finally, the book also shows how Otto became a successful harmonica maker and how the sisters, who were separated from their mother and brother, are able to return and live a content and joyful life.

 Overall the stories in the book have a lot of power as they portray a lot of the problems that an individual might face today. It is an emotion packed story made for mainly middle grade children. But the uniqueness of the story makes it appropriate for all ages. It gives the message that while going through struggles you can find something that you like and use that to give you comfort and hope as you try to achieve your goal. Additionally, the success of the characters give a sense of hope to the reader. Although the story seemed a bit unconnected and confusing at the start, the author triumphantly makes sure that the stories are all tied up and clears any of the initial confusion. Some other books by the author are, “Esperanza Rising” and “The Dreamer”.