Becky Birtha's Blog

Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan




Right from the start, Pam Muñoz Ryan's Echo seemed like an enormous undertaking, and not only for her, as a writer. I wondered how long it would take me to read its 587 pages. (I am not a fast reader.) How many times would I have to renew the library book? And this would be a week I was traveling. How much heavier would my luggage be? (Yes, I have an e-reader, and no, it's not the same.)

By the time I finished Echo I was glad for its size. It's the kind of book I didn't want to end. The novel's structure is unique. Echo reads like not one novel, but three, each with its own full set of characters, distinctly different setting and date, and each one averaging the length of a more typical middle grade novel. These three stories are nested within two outer stories, somewhat like a meal I had once in a Japanese restaurant, in which each dish was served in its own small square box, all fitting neatly into a larger lacquered box to form a whole.

There is overt magic in the outer stories: a devious king, a wicked witch, an enchantment. The three inner stories are more like realistic historical fiction. In Part 1, Friedrich's home life and academic future in 1933 Germany are threatened as Hitler comes to power, and Friedrich's father reaches out to a Jewish friend. Mike and Frankie, two orphaned brothers in Part 2, live a bleak life in a state facility, trying to honor their grandmother's last request-- that they stay together. In Part 3, in 1942 Southern California, Ivy tries to protect a family from U.S. prejudices and wartime wrongs against the Japanese, while faced with racism herself as a Mexican American.

In addition to issues of social justice, what the stories share is that each contains a pair of siblings who think the world of one another, and all of the children have a love of and a talent for music. In each story, the same mysterious harmonica appears, signed with a red letter M, and capable, when played, of affecting the listener with "a quality ... never heard before", and bringing the player feelings of reassurance, hope and confidence. Each of the main characters owns and plays the harmonica for a time, then passes it on.

One might expect the resulting book to be disjointed, perhaps confusing, and possibly heavy handed with its messages. But as a reader, I sank into each story in turn, drawn in by the totally convincing characters. There is some sentimentality here-- particularly in Mike and Frankie's story-- but I don't mind that a bit. I was not ready to leave the characters where their stories rather abruptly ended, but I read on, curious how in the world this could all be pulled together at the end.

Through it all, I trusted Pam Muñoz Ryan's ability as a writer, sensed from the book's tone that I was safe in her hands, that despite the frightening and perilous situations in which she placed some of her characters, she would not let them-- or me-- down. Echo is a work of epic proportions, and not just in number of pages. Nevertheless, I'm delighted to report that it is being returned to the library today, right on time.



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Greetings, and welcome to this blog post. My blogging intention is to share my thoughts, questions, ideas, responses, and passions about books. I’ll be posting about reading and responding to books by other writers, and about writing my own books and releasing them to other readers.

As an African American, a lesbian, and a children's book author, I care a lot about diversity in children’s books. At my core is the determination to create more space, more acceptance, and more respect for black kids, other children of color, LGBTQ folks, and others who don’t get enough. If you care about those issues too, or even if you’re just curious about them, I hope you’ll want to read more.

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