THE SOUND OF A GUITAR
Dazzled after watching her older cousin Keeley shredding with a band in the park, Mia uses book and web resources to find out about the history and construction of (acoustic) guitars. Then, after demonstrating with a simple kitchen physics experiment how sound waves work, she makes a cardboard instrument by stringing a cracker box with big rubber bands. Having shown her dad (and readers) how to control pitch and amplitude, she debuts at her grandpa’s backyard birthday party, and if “it didn’t sound much like ‘Happy Birthday to You,’ ” as Stier realistically comments, she still gets an enthusiastic response from her extended family…and better yet a real starter guitar from latecomer Keeley, who joins her delighted cousin for a glorious set of tunes. Mia and her family are brown-skinned. Several of the adult women in Rosa’s bright, simply drawn cartoons wear hijabs, and the party’s guest of honor is clad in a thobe. There is some racial diversity visible in group scenes. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
