Joseph and the Song From Far Away
A picture book about a little radio and the song it was made for
Adam G. · picture book · 23 pages
A picture book for ages 5 and up. Joseph is a little old radio that tries to be useful: a streetlight, a table, a paper holder, a house for ants, a doorstop. Nothing fits. Then, on a quiet night, Joseph turns the one knob nobody ever turned, and finds the song it was made to receive.
For grown-ups
Joseph’s jobs (a light, a table, a doorstop) are the things we do. None of them is the purpose. The purpose is the song: something that comes from beyond us, that we don’t make, only receive and carry into everything we do. That receiver is the soul. Ask your child: When it gets very quiet, what do you hear inside?
Watch the animated story · about 4 minutes, read aloud
In a dusty little shop sat a little old radio named Joseph.
Joseph had a round speaker, a tiny light… and one small knob that nobody ever turned.
Every day, Joseph wondered,
“What am I for?”
One night, Joseph shone its tiny light on the dark street. Blink.
But the street was so big, and the light was so small. Nobody noticed.
Joseph tried to sing. “KSSSSHHHHH!”
The cat ran away. The baby cried. “Oh dear,” said Joseph.
A boy put his cup on Joseph. “A table!”
The cup wobbled… SPLASH! Too small to be a table.
Joseph held down papers on a windy day.
WHOOSH! The papers flew away, and Joseph tumbled after them. Too light.
The ants moved in, all cozy inside.
“I’m a house,” said Joseph. “But I still feel empty.”
Joseph held the door open.
Bump. Bump. Bump. All day long. “Is this all I am?”
Joseph held up a row of big books.
They leaned… and leaned… SQUISH!
The children floated Joseph in a puddle.
It sailed for one second. Glug, glug.
The cat tried to nap on Joseph.
Too hard. Too bumpy. The cat went off to find a soft cushion.
In winter, Joseph became a snowman’s hat.
Brrrr. Everybody laughed, but Joseph didn’t.
One rainy night, Joseph sat all alone.
“A lamp is for light. A chair is for sitting. But me? I’m not for anything.”
It got very, very quiet.
And in the quiet, Joseph felt something tiny deep inside. A whisper from very far away, farther than the stars.
Joseph remembered the little knob. The one nobody ever turned.
Slowly… Joseph turned it. Click.
Kssh… fzzz… kssh…
Lots of noise. But Joseph kept turning, gently, listening, listening.
Then, there! One special channel. The one Joseph was made for.
And out came music. The most beautiful music in the whole world.
The cat came back. The baby smiled.
The ants danced. The whole street stopped to listen.
The song didn’t start inside Joseph. It came from far, far away, and only Joseph could catch it and share it.
“That’s what I’m for!”
Joseph held the door open… and played music.
Joseph held up the books… and played music.
Joseph was a table, a house for ants, a hat for a snowman…
and everywhere Joseph went, the song went too. Even the papers in the wind danced.
And Joseph’s tiny light? It glowed with the music.
It didn’t feel small anymore.
You have a little knob inside you, too.
When you’re quiet and you listen… you can hear your own special song.
The End
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