* The Harmonica by Tony Johnston


   This is a very emotionally charged children's book.  It is centered in Nazi Poland, where a young Jewish family are living.  This family does not have a lot of money, but has each other.  It begins with a mother, father and young Polish boy.  The father gives the boy a gift of a harmonica, with the little money he could scrape together from his job as a coal miner.  He tells his young son to learn to play soft and slow, and the young boy soon learns to repeat the songs on his harmonica that the family sing together.  Soon the family is invaded by Nazi soldiers and taken to be slaves at a concentration camp.  The boy and his family are split up, and in the boys room (designed more as a cell) the boy expresses his grief of being separated from his family through his harmonica.  He soon has a heart wrenching feeling and suddenly has a feeling this he has forever lost his parents.  He plays his harmonica louder and faster, and a Nazi guard hears the boy playing his beautiful music.  The guard forces him to play his harmonica for him, and as a reward the guard tosses the starving boy scraps of bread.  The young boy feels guilt for getting the bread, while the others are starving back in their cells.  When the young boy returns to his cell after the guard has fallen asleep, another captive thanks the boy for his beautiful music, and the boys spirit is lifted. 
   The illustrations in this book are gorgeous.  The pages start out with a light, bright color while the boy is content with his family.  As the Nazi's approach the pages begin to progress into darker and dim images, until the pages are extremely dark and forlorn, representing his life in slavery at the concentration camp.  This story is intended for older children, grades 4 and higher, because of the content, which could be too emotionally charged for younger children, and the illustrations which could be traumatic.


genre: traditional
level: 4th grade and above
illustrator: Ron Mazellan
year: 2004
* denotes author was found in the text, or on the companion website.