That morning, in Ziggy's garden, the sky was covered with soft clouds and a light drizzle was falling.

The four friends had taken shelter under the porch and had made up a silly game: guessing animal sounds while pinching their noses shut with their fingers.

"Do the dog!" said Lily, in her bold little voice.

"Woof woof!" tried Dash, but with his nose pinched shut it came out "Woob woob!", and they all burst out laughing.

All around them were Ziggy's four cats. Sofia, the sweetest little black cat, was purring. Dora, the brave tabby, watched the rain without any fear. And the two brothers, Poldo, nice and round and soft, and Milo, tall and able to make the highest jumps, chased each other through the wet leaves.

Then, all of a sudden: CHUFF CHUFF!

From behind the hedge popped Toby the Magic Train, with rainbow-colored smoke and windows that sparkled like mirrors.

"CHUFF CHUFF, hop aboard, dear friends of mine, today we hunt for a sound so fine! There's an island that once loved to sing, but lost its song, the strangest thing!"

The children clapped their hands and hopped aboard, with the four cats following them, tails held high. The little train raced along shiny tracks, flew over the rooftops, brushed past the clouds, and finally slid down toward the sea, where a small, round little island was waiting.

"We're here!" shouted Ziggy, with sparkling eyes.

But as soon as they set foot on the sand, they knew something was wrong. There was no sound. Nothing at all.

"How strange," whispered Skye, the calmest of the group. "You can't hear the sea."

She was right. The waves rolled gently onto the shore, but they were silent, like a television with no volume. The sand didn't rustle under their shoes. The palm leaves didn't laugh in the wind. And the seashells, so many seashells scattered everywhere, stayed quiet.

"This island used to be full of sounds," said Ziggy, looking around. "Now it's like a closed box."

Lily clenched her fists. She was the most stubborn of the group, and she didn't like giving up. "Then let's find a way to open it back up," she said. "We can't leave an island without a voice."

"This is Whisper Island," said a voice near the water. "Once, everything here used to sing. Now it has all gone silent."

The children turned around. Out of the water popped a shiny gray dolphin, with a great big smile.

"Gone silent?" asked Lily, frowning. "What does that mean?"

"It means left without a voice," the dolphin explained. "Like when you have a cough and can't talk."

"Ohhh!" they all said together, and Dash quickly tucked a brand-new word into his head.

"My name is Splash," said the dolphin. And to introduce himself, he did a beautiful flip in the air... but then he landed flat on his belly with an enormous SPLAT that splashed water everywhere.

The children burst out laughing, and Splash laughed along with them. "That always happens to me," he said. "I'm a clumsy one. But you know what? I can sing! Listen."

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sang: "BLOO-BLOO!"

Just one note. And a very off-key one at that.

"Um," said Ziggy, kindly. "It's... nice."

Splash lowered his snout, sad. "I know, I'm off-key. I've tried a thousand times to make the island sing all by myself, but nothing blooms and nothing sings. I'm just a disaster."

Ziggy looked at the silent shells, the quiet sea, and the still palm trees. Then he looked at his friends. "It's not fair for the island to stay without a voice," he said. "Let's all try to make up a song that brings the sound back!"

So they tried. One at a time.

Ziggy clapped his hands hard over the sand. Clap, clap, clap. Nothing happened.

Lily whistled with all the breath she had. Wheee! But the shells didn't answer.

Skye found a big shell, put it to her lips, and blew into it. Ooooh! A sweet sound, but all alone it faded away right away.

Dash started running back and forth, stamping his feet like a drum. Thump, thump, thump. But it was just the sound of shoes on the sand.

And the cats? Meow, meow, meoww! Sofia, Dora, Poldo, and Milo all meowed together, but out of time, and it sounded like a mess.

Splash tried his "BLOO-BLOO" again, but he felt shy and stopped halfway.

All together they made a big, confused racket. Clap, wheee, ooooh, thump, meow, bloo... It sounded like someone had tipped a box of sounds onto the floor. And the island stayed quiet.

"It's not working," said Dash, with a huff. "It's impossible to find the right song."

Splash drifted a little farther into the water. "I told you," he murmured. "You can't make music with me. I'm the only one who sings just one note, and a wrong one too."

Skye came closer and stroked his snout. "Don't say that," she told him gently. "There must be a way."

The children sat down on the sand, a little discouraged. They had tried everything, but every sound, all alone, faded away right away. Dash looked at his shoes, Lily sighed, and Skye kept stroking Splash to comfort him. It really seemed like Whisper Island would have to stay without a voice forever.

That was when Ziggy stopped. He closed his eyes. He stayed quiet for a moment. And then... his face lit up like a light bulb.

"Aha! I've got it!" he shouted, jumping in the air. "We were doing it all wrong! We don't have to find one right note all by ourselves. All alone, it doesn't work for anyone! The right song is putting them all together, each one at just the right moment!"

His friends looked at him, puzzled.

"Think about it!" Ziggy went on, all excited. "The clap of my hands can be the drum. Lily's whistle can be the flute. Skye's shell can be the singing. Dash's running can be the rhythm. The cats can be the choir. And Splash..." Ziggy turned toward the dolphin with an enormous smile. "Splash, your BLOO-BLOO is the most important note of all! It's exactly the one that's missing!"

Splash's eyes went wide. "Mine? But it's off-key!"

"It's perfect!" said Ziggy. "We need yours exactly. Without you, the song isn't complete."

The dolphin felt something warm inside his heart, and for the first time he stopped feeling useless.

"But how do we all play at just the right moment?" asked Lily.

"Leave that to me!" said Ziggy. "I'll be the conductor. Do you know what that is? It's the person who stands in front of all the musicians and tells each one when to play, by moving their arms. That way nobody plays out of time!"

Ziggy ran over to an old log washed up by the sea, hopped on top and balanced, and spread his arms wide. The wind began to blow more strongly, and from the sky came a special rain: the Singing Rain. Each drop made a different sound as it fell. Plip on the leaves, ting on the water, tock on the shells.

"Now!" shouted Ziggy. "On my go! Everybody ready!"

And he began to conduct. He gave a jump and pointed at Dash: "Rhythm!" And Dash took off running, thump thump thump.

He did a somersault and pointed at himself, clapping his hands: clap, clap.

He pointed his finger at Lily: "Flute!" And Lily whistled, wheee, keeping the beat.

He spun around and pointed at Skye: "Singing!" And Skye blew into the shell, ooooh, soft as a caress.

Milo made the highest leap, Poldo rolled, Dora and Sofia meowed at just the right moment: meow, meow, a perfect choir.

And then Ziggy stopped, looked Splash in the eyes, and raised his arms to the sky. "Now you, Splash! The most important note!"

Splash took a deep breath, leaped into the air, and sang with all the voice he had: "BLOO-BLOOO!"

And it happened.

Splash's off-key note clicked into place with all the others, and all at once the confused mess from before turned into a song. A funny song, a little crooked, but beautiful precisely because no note was perfect. The Singing Rain added its drops, plip, ting, tock, and the shells on the sand began to answer one after another.

Ding. Dong. Dang. The island was singing again!

Ziggy jumped on the log, did somersaults, and moved his arms as fast as he could to keep everyone together. "Keep going!" he shouted, laughing. "Don't stop! We're almost there!" His legs were running, his hands were flying, his whole body had become the beat of the music. And the more they kept the rhythm, the more the shells answered, one after another, like lots of little bells waking up.

And at the very first chorus, here came the wonder: from every bush, from every branch, the closed buds burst open all at once, and from the sky fell a Rain of colorful, sweet-smelling petals, pink, yellow, and blue, that twirled through the air like butterflies.

The sand rustled again. The palm leaves laughed in the wind. And at the far end of the beach, ever so shyly, the echo came back too. Do you know the first thing the echo repeated?

"BLOO-BLOO!"

Splash's very own note!

Everyone burst out laughing so hard they held their tummies. Splash did three flips in a row, and this time he landed perfectly, without any SPLAT.

"You were right, Ziggy," he said, his eyes shining with joy. "All alone, I was just one off-key note. But together with you... I became music."

Ziggy climbed down from the log and hugged all his friends, while the cats purred happily and the petals kept falling.

Whisper Island had found its voice again.

When it was time to go home, CHUFF CHUFF, along came Toby the Magic Train, with his windows full of petals.

"CHUFF CHUFF, come back now, singers sweet and dear, today you sang like birds for all to hear! Alone, each little sound was faint and low, but joined as one, the song began to grow!"

The children waved goodbye to Splash, climbed aboard the train, and as the island grew tiny on the horizon, they could still hear the faraway echo singing happily: "BLOO-BLOO!"

And they went home with their hearts full of music.