The Music Inside Us

Yo-Yo Ma and His Gifts to the World

written by James Howe
illustrated by Jack Wong

Review posted October 9, 2026.
Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2025. 48 pages.
Review written March 24, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

The Music Inside Us is a picture book biography of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, which makes it a wonderful book even if it were an ordinary one.

Yo-Yo Ma began playing the cello as a four-year-old in Paris. The book shows him playfully enjoying music even as a small child. His family moved to New York City when he was seven and got him world-class teachers. He and his sister performed for large audiences even when they were very young.

But this book is special because it goes deeper. It talks about his quest to learn technique to make his cello sing. It talks about his questions of identity as a teen when he wondered if he was really meant to be a cellist.

In college, Yo-Yo studied anthropology and discovered that every group of people in the world makes music.

Yo-Yo decided that he would spend his life not only performing for others,
but learning from others about their musical traditions
and finding ways to bring cultures together through the music they make.

The book shows him connecting with people from all over the world, as well as with children.

I like the way the book finishes up with questions for the reader:

We are all born with gifts inside us,
our own music inside us.

And we can all ask the same kinds of questions
Yo-Yo Ma has never stopped asking.

Who am I?
Who are we?

How can we use the gifts inside us
to bring people harmony and joy
and make the world a better place
because we have been here?