Music's in the Book

Banks, Steven.   King of the Creeps                        

 

Benway, Robin.   Audrey, Wait!                   

While trying to score a date with a cute co-worker, 16-year-old Audrey gains unwanted fame and celebrity status when her ex-boyfriend, a rock musician, records a breakup song about her that soars to the top of the Billboard charts.

 

Bloss, Josie.      Band Geek Love                              

The marching band is high school senior Ellie’s all-consuming passion until she finds herself in a secret romance with a handsome sophomore.

 

Brothers, Meagan.   Debbie Harry Sings in French                

After Johnny completes an alcohol rehabilitation program, his mother sends him to live with his uncle in North Carolina. There he meets Maria, who understands his fascination with the band Blondie, and learns about his deceased father's youthful forays into "glam rock".

Caletti, Deb    Wild Roses         

In Washington State, 17-year-old Cassie learns about the good and bad sides of both love and genius while living with her mother and brilliant, yet disturbed, violinist stepfather and falling in love with a gifted young musician.

 

Choyce, Lesley   Thunderbowl                    

Jeremy spends most nights in a rowdy club, trying to keep his band together while his life is falling apart, and is forced to make some tough choices.

 

Dessen, Sarah       Just Listen                          

Isolated from friends who believe the worst because she has not been truthful with them, 16-year-old Annabel finds an ally in classmate Owen, whose honesty and passion for music help her to face and share what really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed her life.

 

Dines, Carol.    Queen’s Soprano            

17-year-old Angelica Voglia lives in 17th-century Rome and has the voice of an angel.  Because the pope forbids women singing in public, she must escape to Queen Christina's palace to become a court singer.

 

Dunlap, Susanne Emily     Musician's Daughter                      

In 18th-century Vienna, Austria, 15-year-old Theresa seeks a way to help her mother and brother financially while investigating the murder of her father, a renowned violinist in Haydn's orchestra at the Prince’s court.

 

Forman, Gayle    Sisters in Sanity               

After a family trip to the Grand Canyon turns out to be a trick to take her to a remote residential treatment center for unstable teenagers, 16-year-old Brit realizes that only through inner strength and the help of other inmates can she endure the harsh conditions of the prison-like institution and plan a way to escape.

 

Krulik, Nancy   She’s Got the Beat 

When she moves to Austin, Texas, small-town girl Miranda decides to reinvent herself and, learning how to play the drums, joins a band where she falls for the gorgeous bass player who isn’t interested in rocker chicks.

 

Manning, Sarra.      Guitar Girl          

As her band, The Hormones, becomes an international sensation, 17-year-old Molly begins to question the high cost of fame.

 

Myers, Walter Dean      Harlem Summer              

In 1920’s Harlem, 16-year-old Mark Purvis, an aspiring jazz saxophonist, gets a summer job as errand boy for the publishers of an African American magazine, but soon finds himself on the enemy list of mobster Dutch Shultz. Includes real photos of people and places of Harlem in the 1920’s.          

 

Nolan, Han.     Born Blue                         

Janie was four when she nearly drowned due to her mother’s neglect. Through an unhappy foster home experience, and years of feeling that she is unwanted, she keeps alive her dream of someday being a famous singer.

 

Parkinson, Siobhan    Second fiddle: or How to Tell a Blackbird from a Sausage 

Outspoken Mags decides to help her new friend Gillian, a talented violin student, reconcile with her estranged father so that he will allow her to attend a prestigious music school in England.

 

Stiefvater, Maggie.    Lament: The Faerie Queens Deception                 

On the day of an important music competition, talented but painfully introverted and nervous Deirdre Monaghan is helped to perform by the compelling and enigmatic Luke Dillon and finds herself inexorably drawn into the mysteries and dangers of the faerieworld.         

 

Thompson, Kate.   The New Policeman                       

Irish teenager JJ Liddy discovers that time is leaking from his world into Tir na nOg, the land of the fairies, and when he attempts to stop the leak he finds out a lot about his family history, the music that he loves, and a crime his great-grandfather may or may not have committed.

 

Volponi, Paul      Hurricane Song                                                

Having little in common with his father, Miles' move to New Orleans is not what he expected, but when Hurricane Katrina strikes and he is forced to move into the Superdome with his musician father, the bond between the two grows strong as they ride out the deadly storm and its horrific aftermath together.

 

Weatherford, Carole Boston.   Becoming Billie Holiday                 

Jazz vocalist Billie Holiday looks back on her early years in this fictional memoir written in verse.

 

Wright, Bill.      When the Black Girl Sings            

Adopted by white parents and sent to an exclusive Connecticut girls' school where she is the only black student, 14-year-old Lahni Schuler feels like an outcast, particularly when her parents separate. She finds her voice after attending a local church where she hears gospel music for the first time.

 

Yoo, Paula.     Good Enough                   

A Korean-American teenager tries to please her parents by getting into an Ivy League college, but a new guy in school and her love of the violin tempt her in new directions.