Echo

Newbery Honor Book

New York Times Bestseller

Children's Literature Legacy Award Winner

This impassioned, uplifting, and virtuosic tour de force from a treasured storyteller follows three children, in three different times and places, whose lives mysteriously intersect.

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. And ultimately, pulled by the invisible thread of destiny, their suspenseful solo stories converge in an orchestral crescendo.

Richly imagined and masterfully crafted, Echo pushes the boundaries of genre, form, and storytelling innovation to create a wholly original novel that will resound in your heart long after the last note has been struck.

Author: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: 02/24/2015
Pages: 592
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.86lbs
Size: 8.30h x 6.10w x 2.00d
ISBN: 9780439874021
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.9
Point Value: 13
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 171965 / Echo


Award: Newbery Medal - Honor Book
Award: Parents Choice Awards (Fall) (2008-Up) - Gold Medal Winner
Award: Kirkus Prize - Winner


Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 12/01/2014 pg. 126
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2014
Publishers Weekly 12/22/2014
Voice of Youth Advocates 02/01/2015 - Recommended - Better Than Most
Romantic Times 03/01/2015 pg. 32 - Excellent
Shelf Awareness 02/24/2015
Horn Book Magazine 03/01/2015 pg. 108
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 03/01/2015 pg. 368 - Book Of Special Distinction
BookPage 03/01/2015
New York Times Book Review 03/15/2015 pg. 17
New York Times Book Review 03/22/2015 pg. 26
PW Best Children's Books 11/02/2015 pg. 49
Kirkus Best Middle Grade Books 11/15/2015 pg. 87
PW Children's Starred Reviews 12/02/2015 pg. 77
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/06/2015 pg. 34

About the Author

Pam Muñoz Ryan is the recipient of the NEA's Human and Civil Rights Award, the PEN Center USA Award, and the 2024 Children's Literature Legacy Award for her body of work. She was the 2018 US nominee for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award. She received a Newbery Honor Medal and the Kirkus Prize for her New York Times bestselling novel, Echo. Her other celebrated novels, Esperanza Rising, The Dreamer, Riding Freedom, Becoming Naomi León, Paint the Wind, and Mañanaland, have received countless accolades, among them the Pura Belpré Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, and the Américas Award. Her acclaimed picture books include Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride and the Sibert Honor book When Marian Sang, both illustrated by Brian Selznick, Mice and Beans illustrated by Joe Cepeda, and Tony Baloney illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham, as well as a beginning reader series featuring Tony Baloney. Ryan lives near San Diego, California, with her family.