Music and Silence: The Passion and Protest of Pablo Casals – written by Christy Mihaly, illustrated by Mariona Cabassa
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2026
Christy Mihaly and Mariona Cabassa’s picture book biography of cellist Pablo Casals is another terrific entry in Eerdmans Books for Young Readers’ series, Incredible Lives for Young Readers. Not only is the subject matter, the career of a brilliant musician who internalized the fight for social justice, unusual, but the text and artwork are outstanding. Mihaly and Cabassa succeed in presenting Casals’s childhood in Spain, his formation as an artist, and his anguish over how to use his gift in the face of fascist tyranny.
As a child in Catalonia, Pau (his Catalan name) heard music everywhere. The songs of birds, human folk music, and the sounds of the ocean were intensely present for him. Because of his genius, he translated the experience of listening into playing an instrument. He began with piano, violin, organ, and a special stringed gourd created by his father. When he heard the cello, known for its similarity to the human voice, Pau knew he had found his mode of expression.
Pau went to Barcelona in order to study. In spite of his initial nervousness, he was soon a well-known figure, traveling throughout the world, interpreting Bach and other composers. Artistic excellence was inseparable for him from bringing joy to his audience, including working people, “those who toiled in factories and fields.” (image 10). Mihaly conveys how this choice was not a product of ideology, but of heartfelt commitment and love for his fellow Spaniards and all of humanity. When Spain’s democratically elected republic was threatened by General Franco’s forces, Casals knew that he had to act. Giving concerts to raise funds, and refusing to be silenced, he helped refugees, and warned the world that Spain would not be the last victim of fascism. Young readers, who may be unfamiliar with the history of the Spanish Civil War, a testing ground for Hitler, will learn about this dark era.
Cabassa’s illustrations, rendered in acrylic, gouache, watercolors, pencils, and digitally, embody a specific sensory connection between color and sound. The two-page spread contrasting the beauty of the countryside with the horrors of war (image 14), offers one example. Brightly colored birds, a central motif of the pictures, emerge over the green hills, flying against white space. The houses are linear, with different shades of yellow, green, and orange. At the bottom of the picture, shadowy figures of armed soldiers are a sign of menace. They are smaller in scale, but disproportionately powerful. Cabassa also uses composition to reflect emotion. In a scene depicting Casals’ feelings of defeat, his back is to the reader, as he looks out the window, which frames the outdoor scene. A white bird in the bottom foreground, while a group of people in flight occupies the upper right corner of the background. On the facing page a cello reclines on a bench. The instrument is a reflection of Pablo himself, suggesting the same exhaustion.
Although Casals had decided that he could no longer play music, as the world was engulfed in violence, he eventually Casals determined that silence was not the answer. Franco had virtually outlawed Catalan language and culture, but Casals would continue to defy his oppression. In Cabassa’s vision of the chaos that had overtaken Europe, a map of the continent is, paradoxically, composed of bright swatches of color, although Spain itself black, cast in darkness. Birds of many colors, led by a white bird holding an olive branch, fly away from the war.
Throughout the text and pictures, as well as in thoughtful afterwords, the author and illustrator capture the complexity of Casals’s moral decisions. There is a detailed timeline, more information about Casals life and work, and a list of written, and audible, sources. Music and silence were different moments for him, not contradictions.