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    Silence Sounds Simple

    A Day in the Life of John Cage

    Author Gary Golio
    Illustrated by Andrea D'Aquino
    Hardcover
    $19.99 US
    Astra Publishing House | Calkins Creek
    11.38"W x 11.31"H x 0.37"D   | 20 oz | 20 per carton
    On sale Jul 07, 2026 | 32 Pages | 9781662680809
    Age 7-10 years | Grades 2-5
    Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies

    Spend a day with composer John Cage—hear what he hears, see what he sees, and get caught up in the music he weaves from his experiences.

    A nonfiction picture book perfect for kids ages 7–10 who love music and exploring the world of sounds around them.

    John Cage is a man who makes music with screws and bolts or with rubber bands. He’ll play a toy piano onstage in his suit. Why? To make people listen. To make them think.

    As John goes through an ordinary day, he finds that it’s full of wonder and full of music. John hears the seeds of music in everything from slippers scuffing on an old wooden floor and water whooshing from a faucet to beeping horns and screeching brakes outside. He even hears music in the silence of the forest as he harvests mushrooms.

    Author Gary Golio’s poetic text and illustrator Andrea D’Aquino’s bright, graphic illustrations remind kids to “open your ears / open your mind… YOU ARE / the music / the noise / the silence.”
    ★ "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
    © Susanna Reich
    A visual artist, musician, and psychotherapist, Gary Golio is the author of the New York Times-bestselling picture book Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow, which received a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, as did his recent Calkins Creek book Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem. Gary’s other titles, most of which profile important artists, include When Bob Met Woody, Strange Fruit, Sonny Rollins Plays the Bridge, and The Soldier’s Friend. He lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife, children’s book author Susanna Reich. Visit garygolio.com. View titles by Gary Golio
    Andrea D’Aquino is the author and illustrator of several picture books, including A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa; She Heard the Birds: The Story of Florence Merriam Bailey; and an illustrated edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, and the Type Director’s Club, among many other illustration organizations. Her recent books include Abzuglutely! by Sarah Aronson and and Silence Sounds Simple by Gary Golio. Visit andreadaquino.com. View titles by Andrea D'Aquino

    About

    Spend a day with composer John Cage—hear what he hears, see what he sees, and get caught up in the music he weaves from his experiences.

    A nonfiction picture book perfect for kids ages 7–10 who love music and exploring the world of sounds around them.

    John Cage is a man who makes music with screws and bolts or with rubber bands. He’ll play a toy piano onstage in his suit. Why? To make people listen. To make them think.

    As John goes through an ordinary day, he finds that it’s full of wonder and full of music. John hears the seeds of music in everything from slippers scuffing on an old wooden floor and water whooshing from a faucet to beeping horns and screeching brakes outside. He even hears music in the silence of the forest as he harvests mushrooms.

    Author Gary Golio’s poetic text and illustrator Andrea D’Aquino’s bright, graphic illustrations remind kids to “open your ears / open your mind… YOU ARE / the music / the noise / the silence.”

    Praise

    ★ "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

    Author

    © Susanna Reich
    A visual artist, musician, and psychotherapist, Gary Golio is the author of the New York Times-bestselling picture book Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow, which received a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, as did his recent Calkins Creek book Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem. Gary’s other titles, most of which profile important artists, include When Bob Met Woody, Strange Fruit, Sonny Rollins Plays the Bridge, and The Soldier’s Friend. He lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife, children’s book author Susanna Reich. Visit garygolio.com. View titles by Gary Golio
    Andrea D’Aquino is the author and illustrator of several picture books, including A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa; She Heard the Birds: The Story of Florence Merriam Bailey; and an illustrated edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, and the Type Director’s Club, among many other illustration organizations. Her recent books include Abzuglutely! by Sarah Aronson and and Silence Sounds Simple by Gary Golio. Visit andreadaquino.com. View titles by Andrea D'Aquino

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