The true story of award-winning pianist and environmental activist Mahani Teave and the beloved island she is helping to save.
Imagine living on a tiny island more than a thousand miles from any other inhabited place! That's where a girl named Mahani lived―on Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island. Mahani grew up taking music lessons on the island's only piano. She had the talent to become a great pianist, but pursuing that dream meant leaving the home she loved.
As Mahani toured the world as an acclaimed concert pianist, Rapa Nui stayed close to her heart. She knew the island struggled with problems like ocean trash and wondered how she could help. So she returned to Rapa Nui with a new dream―to build a music school! The unique building is constructed with recycled trash and has solar panels and a food garden. Now Mahani is helping build a more sustainable future for her island home―where the music continues.---from the publisher
40 pages 978-1728262314 Ages 7-10
social activist, inspiration
Keywords: picture book biography, Easter Island, environmental stewardship, music, performing arts, recycling and green living, sustainability, role of the individual, power of the individual, 7 year old, 8 year old, 9 year old, 10 year old, STEM, music school, environment, piano, social activist, inspiration
About the authors:
Marni Fogelson is a children’s book author, lifestyle writer, and nonprofit professional. She has an insatiable love for reading and believes that books have a tremendous power to make us better humans. Marni lives with her husband, two children, and a very loud and affectionate hound in Philadelphia.
Mahani Teave is an award-winning concert pianist and environmental activist from Rapa Nui (Easter Island). She holds a master's degree from the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music, has won numerous international music competitions, and her debut album, Rapa Nui Odyssey, launched as number one on the Billboard Classical charts. She is one of the founders of Toki Rapa Nui, a nonprofit dedicated to the island’s ecological and cultural preservation. She lives with her family on Rapa Nui, where she leads the Rapa Nui School for Music and the Arts.
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Mahani Taeve was born and grew up on the island of Rapa Nui, which many students have never heard of although they might recognize the Moai statues (they may have heard them referred to as Easter Island heads). She heard the music of nature around the island, as well as the ukuleles played by islanders. Visitors who came to the island sometimes brought other instruments "and her fingers itched to play the instruments she heard." Eventually, Mahani left the island to study and compete internationally as a pianist. She teamed up with other islanders to create a music school, building it with recycled trash.
Digitally painted illustrations show the breeze carrying musical notes to Mahani, the spotlight shining on her as she performs in a packed concert hall, and a terrifying flood of plastic garbage encircling the island. An afterword reviews Mahani's career and her work with the nonprofit NGO Toki to create the Rapa Nui School of Music and the Arts. Bulleted lists share facts about the island, the "Mysterious Moai," the language of Rapanui, Earthships (buildings constructed with natural and recycled materials), plastic in the ocean, and the future of Rapa Nui.
The book was cowritten by Mahani and author Marni Fogelson. Illustrator Marta Alvarez Miguens also created the artwork for Dinosaur Lady (about Mary Anning) and Shark Lady (about Eugenie Clark), so you have probably seen her work before. I think it would be fun to pair this book with Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma and discuss how artists can serve communities in different ways. You might wish to read the book with your students and then share this video about Mahani and the school; "In bringing the Song of Rapa Nui to the world, pianist brings music education home."
Recommended by: Suzanne Costner, Teacher Librarian, Tennessee USA
See more of her recommendations: https://fveslibrary.blogspot.com/2023/04/spring-reading-2023-girl-who-heard-music.html
