Boy Seeking Band

July 3, 2017
Eighth grader Terence Kato transfers to public Franklin Middle School with trepidation and low expectations. In the span of a few short months, Terence’s mother died, his father started spending most of his time in bed, they moved out of their home, and Terence had to leave his private school friends and jazz quintet behind. Terence knows that a new band might be the only way to make his time at Franklin bearable, so he sets out to put together the perfect sound. His only rule? No friends. For Terence, friends mean connection and sympathy, two things he’d rather avoid. But bonds form as the band comes together, reminding Terence that friendship isn’t weakness but strength. Brezenoff (Guy in Real Life) touches on many concerns and stresses in Terence’s life, including his father’s depression, being bullied, and his elitist attitude toward the arts program at Franklin, but they aren’t explored deeply and are resolved fairly neatly. Even so, the disaffected tone of the narration nicely mirrors Terence’s angst, and his friendship with the band’s vocalist, Meredith “Eddie” Carson, is well developed. Ages 9–12. Agent: Edward Necarsulmer IV, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.

September 1, 2017

Gr 4-7-Eighth grader Terence Kato recently lost his mother and transferred from his prestigious private school, Hart Arts, to the local public school, where bullies roam the halls and the "unfocused, untalented" jazz band can't hold a candle to Terence's old group, the Kato Quintet. Meanwhile, Terence's father has depression and spends days in his bathrobe marathoning '90s television, leaving Terence to fend for himself. Desperate to escape the dark clouds at home and needing an outlet for his musical talents, the boy combs the halls of Franklin Middle School to find members for his new rock band. The first willing participant is the enigmatic Eddie, whose "vocals are rich and lovely as a devil's food cake covered in honey." As Terence grows closer to Eddie and the rest of the bandmates, a Battle of the Bands competition approaches, and Terence must come to terms with his new life. Unfortunately, an interesting premise disappoints with prose that suffers from a jarring narration, a trite deus ex machina ending, and a cursory examination of grief and depression that only hints at deeper character development. Likewise, the protagonist's prejudiced and privileged opinion of public school education begins to grate as the novel goes on and is never really challenged. VERDICT Similarly plotted books like Erin Entrada Kelly's Blackbird Fly do a better job of appealing to music lovers without sacrificing quality of prose or emotional depth.-Ann Santori, Cook Memorial Public Library, Libertyville, IL

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2017
After losing his mother, a bereft middle school boy decides to form a band. Terence Kato has had a horrible year: his mother has died; his dad is depressed and spends most days in bed; and he's had to leave his exclusive private art school for the public one. At Franklin Middle School--where music is an extracurricular--Terence decides to form his own band, although, constrained by his grief, he is determined not to make actual friends. He meets Eddie, a girl with "dark skin, short hair, and a suspicious golden piercing in her nose." Eddie is a singer, and over time, she helps him meet the other members that eventually compose their band, the PA Quintet. The group decides to enter a battle-of-the-bands contest only to discover that their competition is none other than Terence's old classmates from his former school. Terence's pain is palpable but only on a surface level; Brezenoff's tale never takes a deep dive into any great character development and keeps readers at arm's length with its third-person, present-tense narration. This aside, the plotting is light and breezy, and while predictable, the story is comfortably uplifting. Music fans will delight in (and most likely run to look up) the dizzying array of musicians mentioned. Though Terence has a common Japanese surname, there is little sense of Japanese identity in the book. A cursory examination of grief that culminates in a feel-good read. (Fiction. 9-13)

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