{"id":46354,"date":"2026-10-09T21:33:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T01:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46354"},"modified":"2026-10-09T21:36:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T01:36:42","slug":"review-of-the-music-inside-us-written-by-james-howe-illustrated-by-jack-wong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46354","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Music Inside Us, written by James Howe, illustrated by Jack Wong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Music Inside Us<\/p>\n

Yo-Yo Ma and His Gifts to the World<\/em><\/p>\n

written by James Howe
\nillustrated by Jack Wong<\/p>\n

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2025. 48 pages.
\nReview written March 24, 2026, from a library book.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

The Music Inside Us<\/em> is a picture book biography of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, which makes it a wonderful book even if it were an ordinary one.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In college, Yo-Yo studied anthropology and discovered that every group of people in the world makes music.<\/p>\n

Yo-Yo decided that he would spend his life not only performing for others,
\nbut learning from others about their musical traditions
\nand finding ways to bring cultures together through the music they make.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The book shows him connecting with people from all over the world, as well as with children.<\/p>\n

I like the way the book finishes up with questions for the reader:<\/p>\n

We are all born with gifts inside us,
\nour own music inside us.<\/p>\n

And we can all ask the same kinds of questions
\nYo-Yo Ma has never stopped asking.<\/p>\n

Who am I?
\nWho are we?<\/p>\n

How can we use the gifts inside us
\nto bring people harmony and joy
\nand make the world a better place
\nbecause we have been here?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

jameshowe.com<\/a>
\njackwong.ca<\/a>
\nabramsbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/music_inside_us.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Music Inside Us Yo-Yo Ma and His Gifts to the World written by James Howe illustrated by Jack Wong 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,11,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography","category-childrens-nonfiction-review","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46354"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47063,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46354\/revisions\/47063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}