The Sound of Silence

A Japanese boy searches for the sound of silence after an elderly musician tells him that the most beautiful sound is that of "ma," or silence. Young Yoshio listens -- in a bamboo grove, in traffic, and at home -- but no place is perfectly quiet. The next day, arriving early to school, he starts reading a book and forgets where he is. "Suddenly, in the middle of a page, he heard it...Everything felt still inside him...Silence had been there all along." In an afterword, Goldsaito explains that Yoshio is based on her father, who as a child in Tokyo lived next door to a famous composer, Toru Takemitsu, who said that his favorite sounds were "the wind through bamboo and the sound of silence." Kuo's illustrations ("drawn in pen, scanned, and colored digitally in Photoshop," per the appended artist's note) fill the double-page spreads with lively scenes from Tokyo's busy streets and Yoshio's peaceful home. In his yellow rain boots and red cap and carrying a yellow umbrella, Yoshio stands out even amid the crowded cityscape. In one elegantly composed spread, aerial views on facing pages show Yoshio's square dining-room table holding round cups and bowls and his small round bathtub surrounded by square floor tiles. Aptly, as Yoshio gets closer to finding ma, the palette of mainly primary colors becomes more and more muted. Whether or not young audiences understand the lovely (but somewhat enigmatic) Zen lesson about silence, they will certainly grasp Yoshio's love for Tokyo's "stream of sounds." jennifer m. brabander

A Japanese boy searches for the sound of silence after an elderly musician tells him that the most beautiful sound is that of "ma," or silence. Young Yoshio listens--in a bamboo grove, in traffic, and at home--but no place is perfectly quiet. Kuo's illustrations fill the double-page spreads with lively scenes from Tokyo's busy streets and Yoshio's peaceful home.