Echo

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Comparing Music’s Power”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of The Power of Music by comparing the impact music has on the novel’s characters with the impact that music has on themselves.

What power does music have in the lives of Friedrich, Mike, and Ivy? Which songs have the greatest impact on them? In this activity, you will show that you understand how music affects these characters by creating a chart that compares the music that is important to each character to the music that is important to you.

1. Choose three songs from the novel: Review each character’s story and choose one especially important song for each character.
2. Create a chart that has three rows and two columns: Place each main character’s name in one of the three rows. Label column one “Their Music” and label column two “My Music.”
3. Fill in the chart:
4. In column one, write down the names of the songs you chose from the novel. Write one sentence for each that describes how this music impacts the character you chose it for.
5. In column two, write down the names of songs that impact you in similar ways.
6. Share and compare: Share your chart with your small group. After everyone has finished sharing, answer the following question as a group: For an activity like this where there is no one “right” answer, what makes an answer strong or in need of improvement?

Teaching Suggestion: This activity asks students to consider the impact of music on various characters and to then translate this impact into the real world and their own lives. If your students are inconsistent title punctuators, this is a good chance to remind them about how the titles of short works like songs are punctuated. You might also consider introducing the term “refrain” and briefly discussing the use of certain songs as refrains in this novel. You might then return to the idea of music as a characterization device and ask students to comment on what is implied by the use of a different refrain for each character. If students are comfortable with more personal discussions, you might also ask how the music they chose for themselves characterizes them.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who have difficulty with abstractions or inferences may have trouble understanding the impact that particular songs have on the characters. These students may benefit from working with a partner, at least for the first two steps of this activity. Students who have organizational challenges might appreciate a template, while artistic and technologically advanced students might enjoy designing their own chart with creative elements such as font, border design, and color, either digitally or physically in the classroom.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Throughout the novel, young people misunderstand the motivations and intentions of the adults around them. Choose one such incident as the basis for your answer.

• What is the misunderstanding? (topic sentence)
• Explain what the young character believes is true, then explain the reality of the situation. Give evidence that your interpretation is correct for each.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this incident supports the book’s thematic interest in Children Misunderstanding Adults.

2. The novel’s World War II setting impacts some characters more than others.

• Which character is most impacted by events stemming from World War II? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three pieces of evidence that support your claim.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the novel’s setting in time relates to its thematic concern with Growing Up Fast During Wartime.

3. Prejudice and discrimination are factors in many of the characters’ lives. Choose two such situations from different sections of the novel to use as the basis for your answer.

• What is similar and what is different about these two situations? (topic sentence)
• Offer evidence for both the similarities and the differences. Explain your ideas carefully.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how these two situations support the book’s thematic interest in The Effects of Intolerance.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Echo begins with a frame narrative that contains magical fairy-tale elements. What kind of story does this prologue lead the reader to expect? How does the main narrative defy some of these expectations? Does the fairy-tale quality of the Prologue make it easier for the reader to accept the magical harmonica within an otherwise realistic story? What other impacts are created through the combination of a fairy-tale-like frame story with a realistic narrative about difficult historical events? Write an essay analyzing the juxtaposition of the frame narrative and the main narrative. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. Each of the three main characters in this novel has a sibling who is important to them. Although these relationships share some similarities, they are also different in important ways. Write an essay comparing and contrasting Friedrich’s, Mike’s, and Ivy’s relationships with their siblings. Show how these relationships help create the novel’s thematic focus on The Bonds Siblings Share. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Besides its emotional power over the main characters, what other powers does music seem to have in this novel? Can it create opportunities, bring people together, or help people overcome prejudice? In what sense is music portrayed as being like the human voice, and what does this comparison imply? Write an essay analyzing The Power of Music in Echo, focusing on its non-emotional effects. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which character does not grow up to work in a New York orchestra?

A) Otto

B) Friedrich

C) Mike

D) Ivy

2. Which character can be described as quiet, gangly, suspicious of adults, and willing to make sacrifices for loved ones?

A) Mike

B) Otto

C) Ivy

D) Friedrich

3. Which song is linked with Ivy in this text?

A) “Rhapsody in Blue”

B) “America the Beautiful”

C) Brahms’s “Lullaby”

D) “Auld Lange Syne”

4. Which character has a hard time making friends because of frequent family moves?

A) Friedrich

B) Mike

C) Ivy

D) Otto

5. Which character is the oldest?

A) Ivy

B) Otto

C) Friedrich

D) Mike

6. In which way are Ivy’s family circumstances different from Friedrich’s and Mike’s?

A) Her family is wealthy.

B) She lives with her grandparents.

C) She has no siblings.

D) Her mother is still alive.

7. Which adult shows the least concern for the children they are responsible for?

A) Pennyweather

B) Martin Schmidt

C) Eunice Sturbridge

D) Victor Lopez

8. What do Gunter Schmidt and Mr. Potter have in common?

A) They are both attorneys involved in adoptions.

B) They both teach other characters how to play the harmonica.

C) They both use their wealth to support others’ musical ambitions.

D) They are both sent to wartime internment camps.

9. Which event causes Eins, Zwei, and Drei to finally be released from their captivity?

A) The harmonica allows Mike to compete in the Hoxie’s Harmonica Wizards contest.

B) The harmonica comforts Friedrich before he leaves to rescue his father.

C) The harmonica protects Kenneth from a bullet during the war.

D) The harmonica helps Ivy fit in when she goes to her first orchestra meeting.

10. As children, what ambition do Ivy, Mike, and Friedrich have in common?

A) They all hope to travel the world someday.

B) They all hope to become wealthy adults.

C) They all hope to convince a sibling to change.

D) They all hope to join a group of musicians.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What do Eins, Zwei, and Drei have in common with Mike, Ivy, and Friedrich?

2. What important theme in the story is reinforced by the contents of the Yamamotos’ secret room?