Honeycomb

August 15, 2014
After a week of music camp, 15-year-old Nat, her longtime best friend, Jess, and their new friend Harper have found that they can create beautiful harmonies singing together, and they are approached with a unique opportunity to perform at an upcoming music festival. Let the drama commence.Each girl immediately seizes her role, and not just in terms of vocal range: Jess is the moody one, Harper is the prima donna, and Nat is the doormat. The novel focuses on Nat, whose family is much more excited about her brother's hockey skills than her developing interest in music. Nat doesn't often speak up for herself, but she does help keep the peace when Jess and Harper are at each other's throats. Throughout the novel, the girls argue, make a little musical progress and argue some more. There is an abundance of jealousy and gossip, interspersed with musical references and a touch of romance. The art of being in a performing group takes center stage over any of the characters. With minimal adult guidance, the girls learn specific elements of their craft, how to navigate opportunities in the music industry and how to work together, even coming to understand that their arguments are a natural part of the music-making process. A fast-paced narrative set to the tune of talented-teen melodrama. (Fiction. 11-14)

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September 1, 2014

Gr 6-10- Honeycomb follows the efforts of 15-year-old Nat as she and two other girls enter a Young Performers contest at the fictional Tall Grass Music Festival in Manitoba, Canada. Jess, her best friend, plays the guitar and sings, while the slightly older Harper thinks she's in charge. There is predictable tension, as Harper tries to assert her supremacy because her parents are professional musicians, while at the same time driving a wedge between Nat and Jess, who have been friends since elementary school. In Forcing the Ace, readers are not told Alex's age. Presumably in high school, (his English class is reading The Great Gatsby), he seems much younger. An aspiring magician, much to the disappointment of his surgeon father, he enters a contest for teens and finds himself paired with a girl who is a novice. Both novels emphasize the necessity of cooperation and persistence, as well as the importance of education and family. These high-interest, low-vocabulary stories will appeal to reluctant readers, especially those with an interest in the performing arts.-Marlyn Beebe, Long Beach Public Library, Los Alamitos, CA

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