Pam Muñoz Ryan: Echo (Hardcover, 2015, Scholastic Press)
Hardcover
English language
Published Oct. 9, 2015 by Scholastic Press.
Otto se pierde en un bosque prohibido cuando de repente se encuentra con tres misteriosas hermanas. En ese momento, su destino quedará ligado a una insólita búsqueda que entraña una profecía, una promesa y una armónica. Décadas más tarde, las vidas de Friedrich en Alemania, Mike en Pennsylvania, e Ivy en California, se conectan entre sí cuando la misma armónica llega a ellos. Estos niños se enfrentarán a grandes desafíos: rescatar a un padre, proteger a un hermano y mantener a una familia unida. -- Publisher description.
Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica. Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a …
Otto se pierde en un bosque prohibido cuando de repente se encuentra con tres misteriosas hermanas. En ese momento, su destino quedará ligado a una insólita búsqueda que entraña una profecía, una promesa y una armónica. Décadas más tarde, las vidas de Friedrich en Alemania, Mike en Pennsylvania, e Ivy en California, se conectan entre sí cuando la misma armónica llega a ellos. Estos niños se enfrentarán a grandes desafíos: rescatar a un padre, proteger a un hermano y mantener a una familia unida. -- Publisher description.
Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica. Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together. -- Publisher description.
Lovely trio of vignettes, with "echoes"of each other and a connecting thread. I was disappointed by the ending, which I feel could have left more ambiguity.
an excellent story, particularly in the Overdrive audio version. Combining fairytale, short stories, and historical fiction, this is a fine example of story-for-stories sake. The book centers in a special harmonica and has, among it's themes, that of the power of music to help persevere, have hope, and bring lives together. The masterful audio rendition includes musical performances to bring this to relief. The story itself spans a variety of lives, dealing with topics from Nazi Germany to orphan life to American racial inequality. It offers a fairly typical fare of emotions that occasionally border on cliche, but it does so well, particularly in the audio version where the musical elements are certainly sufficient to breathe life into anything that tended towards dullness.
