Fantasy, Fiction, YA Book Review: Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan Ryan, Pam Muñoz. 2015. ECHO. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 9781338133028. 2. PLOT SUMMARY As Otto is hiding in a forbidden forest during a game of hide and seek, he begins to read a fairytale about a witch, a prophecy, and three sisters. When he becomes lost in the woods, he meets the three sisters from the fairytale he had just read. They bestow upon him an enchanted harmonica and tell him that if he passes it on, and it one day saves someone’s life, they will be free. Years later, the story follows the harmonica to Friedrich, a boy who works at a harmony factory and dreams of becoming a conductor of an orchestra. Friedrich lives in Nazi Germany, and is considered racially impure due to the large birthmark on his face. When word gets out that his father invited a Jewish musician to their home, Friedrich must risk everything to save his family. Next, the story follows two young piano playing orphans, Mike and his brother Frankie, in Philadelphia. When a wealthy woman grudgingly adopts Mike and Frankie, a friend of the woman named Mr. Howard gifts Mike with the enchanted harmonica. After mistakenly thinking the woman was going to send Mike and Frankie back to the orphanage, the boys attempt to escape, when Mike falls out of a tree and is left breathless and not moving. Last, the enchanted harmonica finds its way to Ivy in 1940’s California, who has just been moved to a segregated school. When Ivy is met with the possibility that the Japanese family farm her family has been tending could be spies, she decides to investigate. As it turns out, the Japanese family is only guilty of hiding instruments for families in Japanese internment camps. Their son, Kenneth, bonds with Ivy, and Ivy gives him the enchanted harmonica that eventually saves his life when it keeps a bullet from killing him while at war, in turn freeing the three sisters from the fairytale. At the end, it is revealed that Mike and Ivy, now happy and successful adults, play in an orchestra conducted by Friedrich. 3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Echo is a genre-defying young adult fictional story that is part historical and part fantasy. The power of music is an important theme in this story, and the story’s structure is set up to reflect an orchestra; three separate pieces that live together in harmony. Music is woven into each character’s story, proving that the power of music is timeless. Music also does not discriminate, it can be loved and enjoyed by all people, which brings solace to Friedrich, Mike, and Ivy, who are all struggling with acceptance despite their differences. Pam Muñoz Ryan uses a harmonica (an unlikely instrument to be featured in an orchestra) to make it clear that like music, our differences have the power to bring us together. 4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY: “Each individual story is engaging, but together they harmonize to create a thrilling whole.” KIRKUS REVIEWS: “A grand narrative that examines the power of music to inspire beauty in a world overrun with fear and intolerance, it’s worth every moment of readers’ time” 5. CONNECTIONS Look for these other wonderful stories written by Pam Muñoz Ryan: ESPERANZA RISING ISBN: 9780439120411 PAINT THE WIND ISBN 9780545101769 THE DREAMER ISBN 9780439269988