Echo, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, 2015

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I like Pam Muñoz Ryan’s books, and there’s a reason Echo claimed Newbery honors in 2016. Ryan is often lauded for her multicultural stories, but that’s not why I like them. I like them because they’re GOOD stories. I couldn’t care less about the rest, honestly. Tell me an engaging story, and I won’t care if the hero is black, white, brown, green, or purple. It’s the story that captures me. I know I’m getting to this one really late, but I’ve been away for a few years and wanted to work back in with a book that’s been on my tbr list a long time. This was a great choice! For those ten people who haven’t read it yet, here ya go…

So it just so happens that Echo has not just one hero but four! The story begins in Germany well before the First World War. Young Otto is playing hide and seek when he stumbles onto three princesses whose spirits have been trapped deep in the woods—the three princesses he has just been reading about in The Thirteenth Harmonica of Otto Messenger. Three sad, abandoned princesses cut from their past and their family by a wicked witch. But the story cut off abruptly because their story isn’t finished yet. He is able to capture their spirits in a harmonica (purchased from the same Gypsy who sold him the book) in hopes of helping them finish their story and return to their rightful place.

The plot skips ahead 70 years, in pre-WWII Germany, where young and musical Friedrich Schmidt is struggling with imperfections that mark him for sterilization surgery as well as a sister who is buying into Hitler’s vision of the future. Friedrich is lured into a storage room of the Hohner harmonica factory where he works by haunting music and finds the very same harmonica, distinguishable by a red M on the comb. And so the girls’s story moves forward.

The harmonica next turns up in post-war Philadelphia where orphaned Mike Flannery receives it. Some years later, it enters the hands of Ivy Maria Lopez, who attends a segregated school in California. Each one of these kids has exceptional musical talent, each faces unique challenges, and each will capture your heart. Munoz has an unparalleled ability to breath spirit into her characters. She also has the finesse needed to weave each of these strands into a single, beautiful tapestry.

This is a unique blend of fantasy with historical fiction that engages a variety of social issues. I loved it. And I appreciate the fortitude, compassion, and kindness displayed by each of these kids as they navigate their own difficult circumstances. Since I last wrote a review, the world has exploded with “influencers” that aren’t always pulling kids in wholesome directions. That makes giving tween kids positive models to aspire to, even if subconsciously, so important.

The presence of the princess’s spirits may sound alarm bells in some, but it’s fairytaleish stuff and quite innocuous. Background. The book includes so much historical teaching, so much awareness of others’ circumstances, so many positives, that a detail that could turn weird (but never does) shouldn’t throw anyone off reading this one. This one’s a heavy hitter that I think will go down as a classic. One of my new favorites. Five starts, Ms. Muñoz!

Ages 8-12

Grab a copy of Echo from Amazon.