Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear

Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear by Lensey Namioka

Despite what the cover art and link suggest, this book is readily available. I am unsure why Amazon has the price so escalated and has an outdated copy for sale. Hopefully they’ll fix that soon.

This is the first book in a four book series about the Yang family.  They have recently moved to Seattle from Shanghai. Mr. Yang has a job with the Seattle Philharmonic, but he does not earn enough money.  He is taking on students to help bring in extra income, but it is his own family, a string quartet that he must showcase to try to bring in business.  The only problem is, Fourth Brother is terrible.  His two oldest siblings think that he isn’t working hard enough and that he simply doesn’t care about music, but Third Sister is sympathetic.  She knows that Fourth Brother just can’t hear what he needs to do.  He’s tone-deaf, which in his musically inclined family is a major problem.

Music isn’t Fourth Brother’s only problem.  Newly arrived from China, he doesn’t speak much English, doesn’t know the American way of doing things and is worried about making friends.  He definitely has trouble fitting in and making friends at first.  Things improve for him when Matthew reaches out to him.  It turns out that their differences might compliment each other in a way that can help both boys.

This book is on a reading level appropriate for third-graders, but it may be advanced for many of them until the middle to end of the year.  Also, because of it’s focus on music and self-discovery it will not go over well for seekers of action.  The students I’ve known to enjoy it most are students who have family backgrounds that involve a fair amount of pressure; these students associate more with Fourth Brother’s experience (and to some degree, Matthew’s).

Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – “nerd,” “wimp,” “sissy,”
Death, Violence and Gore – None.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.