Rachel and her eccentric friends each are dealing with their own troubles: Rachel's worried about her parents' marriage, Desmona and Riley struggle to accept their mother's death and Woolsey's dad is still fighting the war in his head. Will rescuing a circus elephant be the "one great deed" that will right their world?

Sonata #1 for Riley Red was read by Lili Gamache
Lili Gamache is a professional actress, director and writer who has worked in television, radio, stage and film. She lives in Vermont with her teenage daughter and 3 cats. Her favorite book as a young reader was The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.

What do you think?

What secret is Rachel hiding? Why do you think she's hiding it?

Desmona is a passionate person. Is she as strong as confident as she seems to be? Who do you feel is stronger — Desmona or Rachel?

What do they hope to accomplish by rescuing the elephant? Do they succeed? In what ways?

What do you think is the message the author wants you to take away from this book?

Rachel calls her group of friends "mis-fits" and "left-outs". What does she have in common with her friends? What does she appreciate in each of her friends?

Out of the group of friends, which one has the most to lose if their plans go awry?

Fun & Adventure Beyond the Book

Before Phoebe Stone started writing children's books, she was an accomplished artist. You can see some of her paintings and her studio on her website.

Sonata #1 for Riley Red is set in Harvard Square, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Square was a hip and happening place in the 1960's and it still is today. If you can't visit it in person, take a virtual tour right now!

Walden Pond was immortalized by writer Henry David Thoreau after he spent more than two years living there, seeking a spiritually fulfilling relationship with the natural world. Visitors come to Walden Pond from all over the world, some for recreation and relaxation, others because of the historical and literary significance of Thoreau's experience. For Desmona, the pond connected her to her mother. This website has lots of photos and historical information about Walden Pond as well as some of Thoreau's writings.

Desmona loves to visit Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's home. Longfellow was a poet and educator that greatly influnced our cultural and historical perceptions. He and his circle of friends played a key role in the intellectual and artistic life of nineteenth century America. His home was a meeting place for many prominent writers and artists, and today it is a national historic site. Take a virtual tour!

Saving a mistreated elephant was a turning point for the characters in Sonata #1 for Riley Red. There are a lot of people working to protect elephants, including a sanctuary in Tennessee. The PBS "Nature" series did a program on elephants and its companion website can tell you just about everything you ever wanted to know about elephants. If that doesn't do it for you, there's a whole trunkful (sorry, we couldn't resist) of information on the elephant information repository site.

Remember the scene where Desmona climbs out of her window holding up a plaster mask? She called it the death mask of poet e.e. cummings. Just what is a death mask? Death masks were popular in the 19th century as a way of preserving a dead person's features. Basically a mold was made of their face as a keepsake. Harper's Magazine has an article about death masks with some photographs, and we found a website with photos of Ulysses S. Grant's death mask. What do you think of this practice?

Grace Greene, from the Vermont Department of Libraries, says if you liked Sonata #1 for Riley Red, you’ll probably enjoy these books as well:

Other books by Stone:

All the Blue Moons at the Wallace Hotel. Little, Brown, 2000.
After the death of their father, Fiona, who wants to be a ballerina and to be accepted by her peers, and her younger sister, Wallace, who is an independent free-spirit, rebuild a life for themselves and their artist mother in the now- neglected mansion that was once their beautiful home.

Companion titles:

Cross, Gillian. The Great American Elephant Chase. Holiday, 1993.
In 1881 fifteen-year-old Tad helps a girl in her attempt to get a mighty Indian elephant to friends in Nebraska, while pursued by two unscrupulous villains who wish to take the elephant from her.

Kehret, Peg. Saving Lilly. Pocket Books, 2001.
Erin and her friends decide to rescue Lilly, a mistreated elephant about to be sold from the circus to a hunting park.

Konigsburg, E. L.The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place. Atheneum, 2004.
Upon leaving an oppressive summer camp, twelve-year-old Margaret Rose Kane spearheads a campaign to preserve three unique towers her great-uncles have been building in their backyard for more than forty years.

Pullman, Philip.The Firework-Maker's Daughter. Arthur Levine, 1999.
In a country far to the east, Chulak and his talking white elephant Hamlet help Lila seek the Royal Sulphur from the sacred volcano so that she can become a master maker of fireworks like her father.