Skip to main content

Review: The Color of Sound

By

The Color of Sound
Written by Emily Barth Isler
Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books. 2024. 326 pages.

Rosie is a 12-year-old musical prodigy who has a remarkable brain that allows her to remember every piece of music she has ever heard or played. She also has the unique ability to hear sounds and her brain turns all of these sounds into colors that she can see, feel, and taste. This full sensory ability is called synesthesia and sometimes Rosie loves what her brain can do and sometimes she is overwhelmed because she can never get away from all the sounds and colors that surround her constantly.

Since she was little Rosie has loved the violin, but lately she feels like she has lost her identity and is only known as "the girl with the violin," so she goes on a music strike. She tells her teachers and her mother that she is not playing the violin anymore. Her mother is very upset with her decision, and so she decides to take Rosie with her to spend the summer at her grandparents house. For the first time Rosie finds herself with plenty of time to begin figuring out who she is without her music, and what she really wants to do with her talents. 

I loved this story and the beautiful way it was written. I loved watching Rosie discover more about herself , her family history, and her religion, along with learning what it means to be a good friend. This was a well written story that will appeal to middle grade readers.


 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Blood in the Water

By
Blood in the Water By Tiffany D. Jackson New York: Scholastic, 2025. Fiction. 255 pages. 12-year-old Kaylani McKinnon can't help but feel like a fish out of water. She's a Brooklyn girl spending her summer on Martha's Vineyard surrounded by wealthy family friends in their mansion. All she really wants is to stay home all summer where she her incarcerated father can easily reach her, and she can keep working to find ways to prove him innocent of fraud and embezzlement. Despite her protests, she finds herself on the island with the snooty granddaughters of her host. Soon after Kaylani's arrival, a popular teen boy is found murdered and she decides to conduct her own investigation. As she tries to discover what happened to Chadwick Cooper, Kaylani finds that not everything on Martha's Vineyard is as perfect as it appears. Thrillers for middle grade readers can be hard to find, but Tiffany D. Jackson succeeds in her first middle grade novel. A quick moving plot, tight d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Fowl Play

By
  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Alice with a Why

By
Alice with a Why By Anna James New York: Penguin, 2026. Fiction. 240 pgs. In 1919, in the aftermath of the first World War, Alyce is living with her grandmother in the English countryside. Her grandmother, also named Alice, tells Alyce (with a y) stories from her childhood adventures in a wonderful land filled with white rabbits and mad hatters. Alyce doesn't really believe the silly stories, she just misses her father who was killed in the war. One day, Alyce receives a mysterious invitation to tea, and subsequently falls into a pond where she is transported to Wonderland. Her grandmother, of course, is that Alice. Alyce is prompted by the Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and March Hare to seek out the Time Being and put an end to the war between the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon. Thus begins Alyce's adventure through Wonderland. I have a certain soft spot for the original story of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my particular favorites and I often have a hard time reading new int...
Post a Comment
Read more