Katrina Goldsaito

The Sound of Silence was written by Katrina Goldsaito and illustrated by Julia Kuo. It was published in 2016 by Little, Brown and Company and is suitable for all students in elementary school. This book is about a young boy named Yoshio who lives in Tokyo, Japan and is trying to find “ma”, the silence between sounds, in the bustling city he lives in after a koto player tells him that is his favorite sound. I liked this book because of the gorgeous illustrations and the details within them. I spotted the name of a company, “MUJI”, where I get some of my favorite skincare products from on one of the buildings in the book. As this is set in Tokyo, some of the things we see in this book are not familiar to us, but great to be exposed to such as the beds on the floor and the low table they eat dinner on, as well as the buildings and plants. The drawing style, balance within the images, colors used, and the imagery are wonderful. I also loved the language as it was descriptive and song like: “...the bamboo made a takeh-takeh-takeh sound as the wind banged its stalks together. He closed his eyes and heard the swish-swish-swish of the wind making the leaves talk. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t silence.” The text and illustrations go together really well and I liked how the sounds for different things were written. At the end, there is an afterword that talks about what “ma” is and some of the different sounds described in the book which is a nice touch that I really enjoyed. This book's message is to find the silence between sounds and oneness. It can also be to enjoy our surroundings and gives inspiration for curiosity. This story was lovely and would allow for students to learn a bit about a different culture.… (mer)