Tempo Change

June 8, 2009
Hall, a rocker as well as an author (The Noah Confessions), is familiar with the trappings that accompany life as a musician, yet this novel about a high school band's moment in the sun teeters between glam and corny. Sixteen-year-old Blanche Kelly's father, a famous musician, has been out of the picture for the past 10 years, and her mother is a recovering alcoholic. Blanche, smart but lacking a social life, starts a band called The Fringers on a whim; the group wins some local competitions and goes on to play at the Coachella music festival. She enjoys the spotlight, but is crushed when her selfish and aging rock star dad, who has resurfaced, is not what she expected. Blanche is a religious skeptic, which lends the book some depth, and music buffs will appreciate nods to Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith and the like. But the clichéd vocabulary used to describe the music scene and the tepid dialogue between Blanche and her dysfunctional parents may disappoint. Ages 12-up.

October 1, 2009
Gr 7-10-Blanche, a high school sophomore, does not want to be defined by her father. A renowned musician, Duncan Kelly disappeared at the height of his career, abandoning not just his fans but also his six-year-old daughter. Of course, no one at the teen's downscale prep school even knows her father is famous, and she treats her own songwriting like a dirty secret. Blanche is headed straight for college, no detours and no messing arounduntil she suddenly decides to start a band. Things go smoothly at first, but soon tensions develop among the band members, followed closely by an identity crisis for Blanche. Is she a freak, or an artist? The one thing she knows is that she is not a normal person for whom everything is certain, which is how she classifies her mother, many of her peers, and, eventually, her bandmates. It takes meeting her father to realize that the world isn't divided into those who made it and those who gave up. "Tempo Change" treads familiar paths and the plot is sometimes contrived, particularly the unreasonable premise that the entire novel is Blanche's memoir, written over the weekend at the request of a reporter. Still, readers will be drawn by the protagonist's frank narrative and her insider/outsider perspective toward music culture. Give it to fans of Cecil Castellucci's "Beige" (Candlewick, 2007) or Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's "Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist" (Knopf, 2006)."Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2009
Grades 7-12 Blanche attends private school on scholarship and lives with her recovering-alcoholic mother. However, Blanches biggest secret is that she is the daughter of a famous rock icon, a music legend who disappeared from the limelight and from Blanches life when she was just six. She has always idealized her father and compares the life she could have had with the scaled-back life her mother has carved out for them. When Blanches all-girl band is asked to play at a popular music festival, she invites her father, figuring it is the perfect opportunity for a reunion. Halls cast of characters is quirky, and all play a role in helping Blanche figure out the meaning of talent, dreams, and ambition. Blanches witty, sensitivenarration will have readers rooting for her throughout, especially during the inevitable confrontation with her father during the anticipated reunion, which, not surprisingly, goes wrong.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)