Echo: a MUST Listen

    Do your ears and heart a favor and GO GET THIS AUDIOBOOK! You can thank me later. I don't even remember why I chose to listen to this book rather than read it. I think it was mostly because it was the only kidlit title from my TBR that was available on Libby at the time and I needed an audiobook while I folded laundry or something. I am telling you right now, listening to Echo is the only way to go! The print book just cannot compare!

    Echo starts with a fairy tale about a boy named Otto and a harmonica. Throughout the rest of the book this harmonica proves to carry some magic within it as it comes in contact with three different children when they need it most. Friedrich is living in Germany just as Hitler is taking power. His world is changing and he must learn to stand for what he believes in. A few years later we meet Mikey who lives in Pennsylvania as an orphan with his little brother. All they want is to belong in a loving family. A few years more and readers are introduced to Ivey. She must cope with moving to a new town and being sent to the Annex School just because she is not white all while her older brother is fighting in the war. Each of these characters have a talent for music and the harmonica finds them at just the right time.

    You're probably wondering what is so wonderful about a bunch of kids and a harmonica. Well, the best part about listening to this book is that there is a different narrator for each of the main characters AND there are instrumental sections. There are whole parts where you get to hear the songs played on the harmonica. I just can't imagine this book having the same effect on me if I had only read it in print. The audio was so well done! And it makes all the difference at the very end...I got chills listening to it!

    Apart from a completely magical listening experience, this story is just plain beautiful. I loved and cared for each character. Their struggles were so real and although I didn't live during these time periods, I personally felt the pain of injustice as if it were happening to me. I loved the little bit of fairy tale that was woven throughout the book. There's a little rhyme that makes its way full circle and it's something I would love to make into a print and put on my wall.

    You know when you're nearing the very end of a book and you think the next page is your last but then there's one more and then one more and you're like "ugh, this author has killed so many good endings!"? Well for one of the first times ever in my reading life I kept thinking it was the end, but instead it kept going and it only got better! Each "ending" was a better ending than the last and when it actually was the ending I almost started applauding!

    I can't wait for the next teen, or family, or really anybody at work who asks me for a recommendation. I will very enthusiastically suggest require they read listen to this book. It was truly enjoyable and what all reading experiences should be.

5/5 Stars