Kathryn's Reviews > No Ordinary Sound: A Melody Classic

My second foray into the world of American Girl books started with the purchase of the new Melody Ellison doll. The doll is absolutely stunning and the book itself was a very decent read. Melody is realistically rendered as an African American child growing up in the 1960's. Patrick also managed to make me care about Melody's family. You can feel their closeness in the scenes at Poppa and Big Momma's house. You develop a soft spot for Melody's relationship with her older brother, Dwayne. You cringe at the tension between Dwayne and Daddy over the former's singing aspirations. Most significantly, you can't help but feel something in the pit of your stomach when Melody - only nine years old - is stunned into a sad silence because of the evil, racist acts of adults.

I give this book a higher rating than Rebecca Rubin's because it makes good use of subplots and the characters just feel more authentic. I am obviously not within the target audience for this book, but I can still appreciate that it would be quite good for children. Especially since it weaves in the themes of racial prejudice and civil rights which are so rarely dealt with in children's fiction. I may pass this particular volume along to my niece. Four stars.