Favorite Quote from Echo

Activity Overview

Having students choose a favorite quote or scene from the book allows them to express which parts of the story resonated with them on a personal level. In this way, students are making a text-to-self connection that demonstrates their understanding of the characters and their development or the themes of the novel. Students can share their storyboards afterwards and have a short discussion about what the quotes mean to them.

Some students may end up choosing the same quote, but have different perspectives. This is always interesting for students to see and can open up a discussion as to how not everyone can read the same lines in the same way based on their own perspectives and personal experiences.

Examples of Quotes from Echo

“YOUR FATE IS NOT YET SEALED. EVEN IN THE DARKEST NIGHT, A STAR WILL SHINE, A BELL WILL CHIME, A PATH WILL BE REVEALED.”

"But you must promise to pass along the mouth harp to another, when the time is right. For our journey to save a soul on the brink of death cannot begin until you do.”

“Which would be worse? To be accepted or refused? A weight pressed on his heart. How could he want something and fear it so much at the same time?”

“The harmonica had a rich, ethereal quality—the same alluring sound he’d heard earlier in the graveyard room. The more he played, the more the air around him seemed to pulse with energy. He felt protected by the cloak of music, as if nothing could stand in his way.”

"Hitler takes away all civil rights and gives his stormtroopers the freedom to question anyone for any reason. Hitler wants to cleanse the population for a pure German race!”

“Music does not have a race or a disposition! Every instrument has a voice that contributes. Music is a universal language. A universal religion of sorts. Certainly it's my religion. Music surpasses all distinctions between people"

“He clutched the harmonica to his chest and cried into his pillow. He could have sworn he heard music...the Brahms...first as a child's lullaby, then a mournful lament, and finally, a staccato march, accompanied by the ominous sound of jackboots.”

“The sound of music is like water finding a path.”

“Everybody has a heart. Sometimes you gotta work hard to find it"

“She said people on hard times deserved to have beauty in their lives as much as anyone else, whether or not they could pay their rent or were walking to a breadline. Granny said that just because someone was poor didn't mean they were poor of heart.”

“That's the thing. No matter how much you don't have, there's always so much more of life to be had. So, no matter how much sadness is in a song, there's equal 'mount of maybe-things'll-get-better-someday-soon.”

“Mrs. Potter said you were a kind and loving soul, underneath all the rest. I guess that means your heart's so sad that it's hard to get out from under the weight. When I was sad about my mother dying, Granny used to say grief is the heaviest thing to carry alone. So I know all about that"

“So blues music is about all the trials and tribulations people got in their hearts from living. It's about what folks want but don't have. Blues is a song begging for its life.”

“Ivy felt as if she’d been touched by magic. Her eyes caught the glances of other musicians. And it was clear they felt it, too.

Who can explain it? Who can tell you why? Fools give you reasons, Wise men never try. Some enchanted evening…

Tonight, there was brilliance in the hall, a communion of spirits, as if Ivy and the conductor and the pianist and the orchestra and everyone in the audience were one, breathing in and out to the same tempo, feeling one another’s strength and vision, filling with beauty and light, glowing beneath the same stars…

…and connected by the same silken thread.”

Template and Class Instructions

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