Music infuses this production as four narrators perform interlocked stories about children who encounter a magical harmonica in different time periods. Narrator Mark Bramhall sets the tone with his powerful, accented portrayal of Otto, a boy who gets lost in an orchard and first finds the magical harmonica before WWI. From there, David de Vries, MacLeod Andrews, and Rebecca Soler take listeners from Germany to Pennsylvania to California with distinctive performances that give a sense of place and life to characters struggling with the rise of the Nazi party, the Great Depression, and then WWII itself. A riveting exploration of that which destroys and that which heals. A.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2016 Odyssey Honor, 2016 ALA Youth Media Award, 2016 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

After reading Pam Muñoz Ryan's enchanting new novel, you'll never think of a harmonica the same way again…Long before the three stories came together in the book's last, triumphant section, I'd been won over by the complex, largehearted characters Muñoz Ryan has created and the virtues—bravery, tolerance, kindness—that the novel espouses. But Muñoz Ryan…is also a writer who cares about sentences…Start to finish, the book is a joy to read.

★ 08/31/2015
It’s hard to imagine a better way to experience this story than in the audiobook format. Music infuses the entire plot line; the characters are cellists, pianists, conductors, and singers. They hear orchestras and have chamber concerts in their homes. And a simple harmonica links the three main narratives. In pre-WWII Germany, young Friedrich, a budding conductor, finds comfort in playing a harmonica as he plots to rescue his father from a concentration camp. Mike and his little brother, Frankie, are in a Pennsylvania orphanage in 1935. Mike may need to win a spot in a harmonica orchestra to keep Frankie safe. In 1942 California, Ivy, a young migrant farm worker, plays the harmonica while living on a farm owned by Japanese-Americans who are in an internment camp. All three characters find great strength in music. The audio edition takes full advantage of the medium, with music playing throughout the story—simple harmonica tunes and orchestral music play in the background and the readers even sing at times. Ages 10–14. A Scholastic Press hardcover. (Apr.)

★ 12/22/2014
The fairy tale that opens this elegant trio of interconnected stories from Ryan (The Dreamer) sets the tone for the rest of the book, in which a mystical harmonica brings together three children growing up before and during WWII. Friedrich, an aspiring conductor whose birthmark makes him an undesirable in Nazi Germany, must try to rescue his father after his Jewish sympathies land him in a prison camp. In Pennsylvania, piano prodigy Mike and his brother, Frankie, get a chance to escape the orphanage for good, but only if they can connect with the eccentric woman who has adopted them. In California, Ivy Maria struggles with her school’s segregation as well as the accusations leveled against Japanese landowners who might finally offer her family a home of their own. Each individual story is engaging, but together they harmonize to create a thrilling whole. The book’s thematic underpinnings poignantly reveal what Friedrich, Mike, and Ivy truly have in common: not just a love of music, but resourcefulness in the face of change, and a refusal to accept injustice. Ages 10–14. Agent: Kendra Marcus, BookStop Literary Agency. (Feb.)

Echo*"The story of Otto and the cursed sisters honor timeless and traditional folktales [and] Ryan has created three contemporary characters who, through faith and perseverance, write their own happy endings, inspiring readers to believe they can do the same." —School Library Journal, starred review*"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." —Kirkus, starred review*"Each individual story is engaging, but together they harmonize to create a thrilling whole." —Publishers Weekly, starred review "A masterpiece." —Christopher Paul Curtis"Daring and beautiful." —Linda Sue ParkThe Dreamer*"An immaculately crafter and inspiring piece of text and art." —Publishers Weekly, starred review*". . . rich, resonant and enchanting." —Kirkus, starred review*"The perfect marriages of text and art." —School Library Journal, starred review*"All the feel of a classic . . . deeply rewarding and eminently readable." —Booklist, starred reviewEsperanza Rising*"Told in a lyrical, fairy tale-like style. . . . Readers will be swept up." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ 12/01/2014
Gr 5–8—"Long before enchantment was eclipsed by doubt," a young boy named Otto lost in the woods is rescued by three sisters imprisoned there by a witch's curse. In return, he promises to help break the curse by carrying their spirits out of the forest in a mouth harp and passing the instrument along when the time is right. The narrative shifts to the 20th century, when the same mouth harp (aka harmonica) becomes the tangible thread that connects the stories of three children: Friedrich, a disfigured outcast; Mike, an impoverished orphan; and Ivy, an itinerant farmer's child. Their personal struggles are set against some of the darkest eras in human history: Friedrich, the rise of Nazi Germany; Mike, the Great Depression; Ivy, World War II. The children are linked by musical talent and the hand of fate that brings Otto's harmonica into their lives. Each recognizes something unusual about the instrument, not only its sound but its power to fill them with courage and hope. Friedrich, Mike, and Ivy are brought together by music and destiny in an emotionally triumphant conclusion at New York's Carnegie Hall. Meticulous historical detail and masterful storytelling frame the larger history, while the story of Otto and the cursed sisters honor timeless and traditional folktales. Ryan has created three contemporary characters who, through faith and perseverance, write their own happy endings, inspiring readers to believe they can do the same.—Marybeth Kozikowski, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY

Music infuses this production as four narrators perform interlocked stories about children who encounter a magical harmonica in different time periods. Narrator Mark Bramhall sets the tone with his powerful, accented portrayal of Otto, a boy who gets lost in an orchard and first finds the magical harmonica before WWI. From there, David de Vries, MacLeod Andrews, and Rebecca Soler take listeners from Germany to Pennsylvania to California with distinctive performances that give a sense of place and life to characters struggling with the rise of the Nazi party, the Great Depression, and then WWII itself. A riveting exploration of that which destroys and that which heals. A.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2016 Odyssey Honor, 2016 ALA Youth Media Award, 2016 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

★ 2014-12-06
A multilayered novel set in turbulent times explores music's healing power. Sweeping across years and place, Ryan's full-bodied story is actually five stories that take readers from an enchanted forest to Germany, Pennsylvania, Southern California and finally New York City. Linking the stories is an ethereal-sounding harmonica first introduced in the fairy-tale beginning of the book and marked with a mysterious M. In Nazi Germany, 12-year-old Friedrich finds the harmonica in an abandoned building; playing it fills him with the courage to attempt to free his father from Dachau. Next, the harmonica reaches two brothers in an orphanage in Depression-era Pennsylvania, from which they are adopted by a mysterious wealthy woman who doesn't seem to want them. Just after the United States enters World War II, the harmonica then makes its way to Southern California in a box of used instruments for poor children; as fifth-grader Ivy Lopez learns to play, she discovers she has exceptional musical ability. Ryan weaves these stories together, first, with the theme of music—symbolized by the harmonica—and its ability to empower the disadvantaged and discriminated-against, and then, at the novel's conclusion, as readers learn the intertwined fate of each story's protagonist. 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. (Historical fiction. 9-14)