Echo

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 in 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 © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

August 1, 2015

Gr 5-8-This World War II-set story concerns three children: 12-year-old Friedrich in Germany in 1933, 11-year-old Mike in Pennsylvania in 1935, and fifth-grader Ivy in southern California in 1942. They have nothing in common except a love for music, difficult challenges they each have to face, and, by an odd coincidence, the use of the same harmonica. The three characters are united at the end of the story in a satisfying conclusion. The narrators include Mark Bramhall, David de Vries, Macleod Andrews, and Rebecca Soler; the beautiful harmonica and piano music integrated into the recording is performed by Corky Siegel. Ryan's lyrical phrases are read beautifully by the narrators, but it is the inclusion of the musical performances that make this audiobook stand apart from others. VERDICT A must purchase.-Julie Paladino, East Chapel Hill High School, NC

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