The Color of Sound

A talented tween with synesthesia probes her Jewish family's history in this sonorous tale by Isler (AfterMath), who contemplates the generational trauma caused by the Holocaust. Twelve-year-old "musical genius" Golden Rose Solomon, who experiences sounds "as textures and colors, as feelings and temperatures and tastes," longs to cultivate a part of her identity beyond "the girl with the violin." To the frustration of her rigid mother, Shanna, Rosie goes on a music strike, forgoing symphony commitments. As punishment, she's forced to join her mom on a visit to the dying grandmother Rosie barely knows. At Shanna's childhood home, Rosie "somehow, magically, impossibly" meets a 12-year-old version of Shanna, who longs to play violin and resents her mother--Rosie's grandmother--for forcing her to become a bat mitzvah. From Shanna, Rosie learns that her great-grandmother survived Auschwitz, an experience that echoes through future mother-daughter relationships in her family, making Rosie wonder whether changing the past could help Shanna understand her, and help revitalize her own connection with music. Intricately entwining interpersonal growth with each character's relationship to their Jewish faith and culture, Isler highlights the role of family history in identity formation through metaphorical time travel. Color-centric imagery rendered in immersive prose translates Rosie's synesthesia in this salient celebration of family, music, and neurodiversity. Ages 11-14. Agent: Emily Keyes, Keyes Agency. (Mar.)

Gr 3-7--Rosie is a 12-year-old violin prodigy, but she is hiding her feelings, her fears, her hopes, and her synesthesia--she experiences sound as colors. Rosie and her mom go to Connecticut for the summer to stay with grandparents she barely knows; her grandmother is dying of dementia and often doesn't know her. Rosie refuses to continue the grueling violin practices and performances that she believes prevent her from being a regular tween girl enjoying sleepovers and crushes. But she doesn't throw a tantrum; it is a considered decision that her parents might better understand if they truly listened to her. As a result of tensions with her mom, Rosie spends time with her grandfather who shows her their family history, decimated and traumatized by the tragedies of the Holocaust. Encounters with a young girl, Shanna, on the farm lead to a tentative friendship and gives Rosie an understanding of the impact of growing up in an entirely different family structure. Rosie is able, in her gracious way, not only to learn from Shanna but to also help teach and guide her mother to a place of better understanding. Isler crafts an exceptionally honest portrayal of complicated mother-daughter dynamics, and a protagonist whose independence and kindness is a stunning solo. VERDICT A top pick for any middle school collection; a perfect book club pick and a reminder to all that patience and understanding can change lives.--Lee De Groft

"Well-crafted, heartfelt, and affecting."—Barbara Dee, author of Maybe He Just Likes You and Unstuck