Book Review: The Color of Sound by Emily Barth Isler

Publisher’s description

Twelve-year-old Rosie is a musical prodigy whose synesthesia allows her to see music in colors.

Her mom has always pushed her to become a concert violinist, but this summer Rosie refuses to play, wanting a “normal” life. Forced to spend the summer with her grandparents, Rosie is excited to meet another girl her age hanging out on their property. The girl is familiar, and Rosie quickly pieces it together: somehow, this girl is her mother, when her mother was twelve.

With help from this glitch in time—plus her grandparents, an improv group, and a new instrument—Rosie comes to understand her mother, herself, and her love of music in new ways.

Amanda’s thoughts

This was a great read. Because I read it as an ARC, I was able to do something I’d never do with a finished copy (that I’d then pass on to someone else) or a library book—fold down corners of pages. I folded down SO MANY pages to note things I wanted to go back to or that felt important.

Rosie’s summer spent with her grandparents (and her mother) is a monumental one. She’s been on a strike from playing her violin. It’s a lot of pressure, being a prodigy, and her parents are ON HER all the time to work hard and be perfect. Rosie, who experiences sound as color, feels like she didn’t choose any of this. Her mom is definitely displeased with her choice to put down her violin, but together they go to visit Rosie’s grandparents, her mother’s parents, where maybe a change of scenery will make things less tense. That doesn’t exactly work—her mom is still annoyed that she’s throwing away her gift—but Rosie does get to do something else with her life than just practice violin. At home, she really only had one friend, and that friendship ended a while ago because of the vast time commitment Rosie had to give to her music. But here, at her grandparents’ house, things are different. Rosie swims, goes to the library, makes a group of slightly older friends, and spends time with her dying grandmother. Oh! And, small thing, she also hangs out with a 12-year-old version of her mother who, thanks to some time glitch, exists in the shed out back. These interactions go a long way toward understanding the grown-up version of her mother, as does everything she learns about family history from her grandfather, who fills her in on their family’s experiences with the Holocaust and the musical lineage she comes from.

The many small connections and realizations Rosie has while at her grandparents’ house helps lead her to a new understanding of herself and, through that, she is able to better express what she wants and needs from her parents and of her own life. A really nice look at how independence is often hard-fought and can come through unexpected paths. A solid upper middle grade read.

Review copy (ARC) courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9781728487779
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date: 03/05/2024
Age Range: 10-14

Filed under: Book Reviews