Drummer Girl

August 1, 2011

A girl obsessed with music must deal with sexual harassment as she struggles to fit in with a band.

Sixteen-year-old Sidney wants only one thing: to become the new drummer for her area's hottest rock band. The band doesn't want a girl drummer no matter how well she can play, though, because they think she might cause dissension among their group. Given a chance to audition for them, Sid proves she's the best drummer, but still the band hesitates. They tell Sid she needs to ditch her tomboy appearance and look more attractive. Desperate, Sid calls on her clothes-horse cousin to help her buy a new wardrobe—only to face ridicule at school, especially from a rival drummer, when she appears with her radically new, rather sexy image. Sid finds a nice romance with a "math geek" but still faces discomfort at school. However, when the band members lure her into a compromising position and then circulate a video of their attack on her, she finally begins to rely on the school counselor who's trying to help her. Bass' portrayal of the harassment is relatively mild, but she doesn't downplay its seriousness, either. She keeps her characters real and demonstrates just how sexual harassment can damage the lives of everyone involved.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2012

Gr 7-10-Sid dresses a little butch, loves woodworking class, and plays awesome heavy metal music on her drum set. The popular guys at school accuse her of being gay and not admitting it. Someone sends a lesbian to ask her out on a date. The truth is, though, that Sid isn't gay. Bass doesn't tell readers definitively that the teen is straight for a significant part of the novel. Sid is desperate to join the really hot band that the popular guys formed, and they need a drummer. She tries out, as does her main tormentor, a jock. The bullying increases to a serious level. Sid tries to be more "girly" as per the band's request but that leads to problems with her best friend; he is angry with her for bowing to the suggestion. Although the narrative is often a bit heavy-handed, the characters are interesting and the story moves quickly. This is an unusual take on gender roles and peer pressure.-B. Allison Gray, Goleta Public Library, CA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2011
Grades 7-9 Sid is a great drummer who wants to play with the school's best band, the Fourth Down. Her competitor is musically weak, but he is part of the jock crowd, while Sid has a reputation for being butch and acerbic. When the band's lead suggests that she clean up and show some boob, Sid does the unthinkable: she calls her cousin Heather for an extreme makeover. But the guys all get the wrong idea. The jocks make passes at her, and her best friend, Taylor, refuses to talk to her, while the whole project makes her dad slug down even more antacids. Is an opportunity to play worth sacrificing who she really is? Bass has created a reflection of the outsider life at a typical high school. While drumming and music are the hooks to reel in readers, drummer-girl Sid and her friends are every high-schooler, and Bass clearly shows the pain of being harassed and bullied. Although the climax is a bit melodramatic, the story's teen voices of pain and eventual courage will ring true to adolescents, whether they're popular, misfits, or a bit of both.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)