Silence Sounds Simple

★ "Golio structures this portrait of composer John Cage (1912–1992) as an experience, crafting a sensory meditation that ­reflects this creator’s artistic philosophy. The story does not follow a typical chronological pattern, instead offering a unique storytelling perspective. The sparse, rhythmic prose challenges a familiar assumption: silence is not absence and often intensifies through intention...A conceptually ambitious and visually arresting biography that ­encourages attentive listening and frames curiosity as a disciplined intellectual stance."–School Library Journal, starred review

★ "This lively picture-book portrait unfurls John Cage’s expansive philosophy of sound as an exploration of the experience of listening. In a day framed as musical movements—overture, interlude, coda—accomplished biographer and musician Golio’s evocative text entices readers to notice the sounds of the everyday as Cage did (slippers scuffing, water whooshing, horns blaring), where the silence in between is not absence but presence shaped by attention... In greens, golds, and purples punctuated by black, D’Aquino’s naive-style drawings pulse and flow in an exuberant expression of the music discovered in sound and silence. Recurring motifs—a black cat with a quizzical gaze, chirping birds, perching chess pieces—anchor fun, inventive layouts, with hand-lettered embellishments enhancing the rhythm on the page... This mind-opening portrait of an imaginative creator presents the act of listening as instinctive and intriguing and is a beguiling invitation to contemplate the music of sound shaped by silence."–Booklist, starred review

"The music of silence is celebrated through the lens of a composer who appreciated it more than anyone... Golio’s text pairs well with D’Aquino’s eclectic cacophony of images, depicted in an array of purples, yellows, browns, and greens. A mind-expanding exploration of what lies in the spaces between the notes."–Kirkus Reviews