Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay

Title: Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay

Author: Susan Hood

Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport

Unnumbered Pages

Picture Book 

           Imagine a town built on a gigantic garbage heap.  You live here.  Your father and mother live here. Their father and mother lived here and their father and mother lived here. You are destined to never leave the trash heap.  You will sort trash the rest of your life. Can anything change? In Ada’s Violin, you will read about how a dedicated teacher plus music changed this town forever.

           Ada was born in the town of Cateura which is located in the country of Paraguay.  It is the garbage dump for Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.  The families of Cateura sort through the trash to find things to recycle or sell.  Every day, Ada’s family would sort through trash. At night they would tell stories and listen to dulcet songs on the radio. Ada could always pick out the melodious sound of the violin.

           One day, their grandmother noticed a sign at the local church that offered music classes. She signed up her granddaughters. Soon class started. The children had a wonderful teacher. The only problem was there weren’t enough musical instruments for them all to have one to try.  They also couldn’t keep the instruments at their homes to practice.  The instruments were too valuable and would be stolen.  What could they do? Their teacher, Senor Chavez wasn’t ready to give up.

           Senor Chavez enlisted the help of Nicolas Gomez. Together they worked to transform ordinary junk into working musical instruments! After much time and effort, Senor Chavez and Senor Gomez completed the instruments. Now each child could have an instrument.  The instruments were worthless because they were made of junk. This way the children could even take them home to practice.  Soon Senor Chavez was holding three hour practices.  The children struggled, but they practiced hard.  Before long they were making beautiful music. The children soon developed great skill and confidence.

           The word spread and the children became known as the Recycled Orchestra. They started performing concerts in Cateura and even Asuncion.  Then an extra ordinary thing happened. More and more people heard about the Recycled Orchestra. They wanted to hear them play.  Soon the Recycled Orchestra was touring all around the world. This changed the entire town of Cateura. The children had a purpose and money from the concerts helped transform the village. All this transformation started with one music teacher. A teacher who chose to believe that his students could reach beyond the garbage dump.

           I can’t recommend this book enough. It has a profound effect on everyone that I’ve seen read it. Most grown-ups that read it, tear up and ask me where I bought it. They tell me that it either inspired them to be a better teacher. Or to help their community. Or even that it showcases Jesus’s redemption in taking our trash and making something beautiful from it.  Most children that read it are just incredibly fascinated by the book. They want to hear the orchestra play which you can do on Youtube. They are fascinated and inspired by watching "trash" being beautiful.