Review of "Cora's Magic Melodies" by Sally Kashner

Score: 95+ to 96/100 (9.5+ to 9.6 out of 10)

Sally Kashner, our Iron Author of Children's Books in this contest, never ceases to amaze us!

Cora's Magic Melodies is yet another phenomenal installment in the Cora Can children's book series which has already won two separate OCA contests, making Kashner an Ultimate Champion both times and the only children's book author to achieve a 9.6 score multiple times.

Sure, the art by Remesh Ram is bright, vibrant, and colorful again. And, sure, the characters are cute and likable again. But there's something else about Kashner's children's books (beyond the illustrations) that we love... it's finding joy, inspiration, and adventure in the unlikeliest of places and in the unlikeliest of scenarios.

When we first met Cora, the titular character, in Cora's Christmas Challenge, she wasn't some spunky, natural-born leader, adventurer, or go-getter, instead she was a bored little girl on a day off from school during the holidays. She had to be challenged to go out and find adventure, hence the name of that book.


Then, in the second book, Cora's Garden Rescue, she acted to restore the neighborhood garden not because she was a passionate gardener or botanist, but because she saw how much the garden meant to her grandmother and the community.

In this book, Cora's Magic Melodies, Cora discovers the love and magic of music, first through her grandma's old guitar, then through the instruments and singing of other people. She discovers that music can be a harmonizing, unifying force that brings people together and lifts whole communities!

And it happens really organically. It's not like Cora picks up a guitar one day and automatically becomes a master at playing it. It's not like she picks up a guitar one day and--per plot convenience--it suddenly becomes her thing. In fact, Cora struggles initially and almost becomes discouraged or put off by the fact that the strumming of the guitar hurts her fingers, something which (as her grandma educates her about ) guitarists eventually get used to.

And she doesn't realize initially how much of an impact her playing can have until she starts playing for different people (and groups of people). For example, she plays for Nurse Emily and her patients to make the hospital environment less stressful (as music can be a great stress reliever). And, in one of our favorite scenes, she plays for Mr. Winston, the night watchman. Something we really liked about that scene is how it's implied that Mr. Winston was initally not having a great night. He looked either bored, overwhelmed, or maybe even a little bummed out about his job (or life). However, when Cora starts playing for him, he actually sits down and listens to her, smiling.

Cora brings a smile to everyone's faces!

Mr. Winston and Nurse Emily appear to make cameos later on in the book, participating in Cora's community concert, which really shows continuity and how these weren't just throw away characters. They were actually so moved by Cora and her music that they actually participated in playing music (or singing) afterward.

This book also introduces us to other characters in Cora's life who we weren't so familar with from the other books. For example, we see more of Cora's parents and her little brother. Now, we sort of remember her mother from the first book but don't remember her dad and little brother at all. Grandma also continues to have a positive impact on Cora's life. She's much more cheerful and happy than she was at the beginning of the second book, which again demonstrates continuity.

We also get a few new facial expressions from Cora that we hadn't seen before like when she gives a clever and coy smile on page 17 upon drafting some plans.

Oh, and the orange tabby cat from book two and the squirrel from book one return for a cameo during the concert. In all honesty, we wish they were in more of this book.

The featured animal of this book appears to be a blue bird. He frequents the pages and even has a section at the end dedicated to him (and blue bird facts).

It's notable that a lot of this book takes place at night, which leads to some scenes being darker in terms of lighting and color, especially in the background, but that's a plus instead of a negative. It really helps this book to stand out as unique from the other two.

The community concert scene with all the characters and animals is one of our favorite scenes ever in an OCA book.

Check it out on Amazon!