The Girl Who Heard the Music - Marni Fogelson - ★★★★★

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AUTHOR: Marni Fogelson

CONTRIBUTOR: Mahani Teave
ILLUSTRATOR: Marta Álvarez Miguéns
GENRE: Children's Picture Book.
RATING: 5 Stars.

In a Nutshell: An amazing story that talks of love for music, love for homeland, and love for nature.

This is based on the true story of award-winning pianist and environmental activist Mahani Teave, and her efforts in saving her place of origin, Rapa Nui (which is more popularly known as Easter Island), from natural destruction.

Mahani grew up with a love for music, but she knew only the music of her people. When a retired piano teacher visited Rapa Nui, Mahani discovered her talent for the piano. She knew she had to leave her beloved island behind is she had to pursue her musical dreams as there was no piano on the entire island after the teacher left.

Soon, Mahani toured the world as an acclaimed classical pianist. But a visit to her Rapa Nui showed a new struggle: the tiny island was being overburdened with trash left by tourists. Thus Mahani combined her musical ambitions and the island’s garbage problem by setting up a sustainable music school constructed with recycled trash!

Isn’t the story inspiring? Do you really need more reasons to read this book? If yes, here you go:

🎶 The cover is gorgeous!!

🎶 Music and nature – the two elements dominate the story from start to end without clashing.

🎶 The story also shows the importance of not forgetting your roots. No matter how big a name you are in the world, your roots are what sustain you. I admire Mahani for not forgetting Rapa Nui even after she became successful. Many need to learn this lesson.

🎶 The opening page contains a little map that establishes how remote Rapa Nui actually is!

🎶 The book is written in simple prose, with 2-3 paragraphs per page. The vocabulary includes some Rapanui words, the meanings of which are either mentioned in the main content or in the glossary provided at the end.

🎶 The artwork is digitally painted and it is dominated by nature hues. It does perfect justice to the island and the islanders

🎶 At the end, there is a single page bio of Mahani and many amazing facts related to Rapa Nui. There’s also a note about plastic content in the ocean.

🎶 Do you know what an Earthship is? The book will tell you. (Okay, Google can also tell you this, but read the book!)


The only thing that was missing and would have made the book even more perfect for me would have been an actual photograph of Mahani on the bio page.

A must-read for everyone, whether nature lovers or music lovers, or simply those who want to see that no one is too small or too far or too inexperienced to make a difference.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Kids and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Girl Who Heard the Music”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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