Don't Vote for Me

May 11, 2015
Seventh-grade band geek David Grainger and his two best friends are social zeros at Shepard’s Vale Middle School, unlike classmate Veronica Pritchard-Pratt, who is on her way to another unchallenged victory as class president. When David makes an impromptu speech about Veronica not representing class interests, Veronica goads him into running against her. Then, much to David’s dismay, the two political rivals are chosen to play a duet together at an upcoming school recital. Veronica turns out to be more complicated than David realized, and he gradually comes to understand her better and wonder who really will be the better class president. While the lessons David learns about the sometimes hidden reasons behind people’s actions are a bit on the nose (“For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to me that Veronica’s life wouldn’t be perfect, that it wouldn’t be like mine”), Van Dolzer (The Sound of Life and Everything) keeps the tone light between David’s wry observations, amusing friends, and the goofy predicaments he falls into. Ages 10–up. Agent: Kate Schafer Testerman, KT Literary.

May 1, 2015
An impulsive comment regarding the upcoming election for class president propels 12-year-old David into the candidate's spot. When he learns that current president and reigning popular girl Veronica is going to run uncontested yet again, self-proclaimed band geek and trumpet player David takes a stand. However, as David contemplates his campaign, he and Veronica are invited to perform a duet at their school recital. Through their practice sessions, David discovers that Veronica's life is not as ideal as he perceived. Subsequent encounters with Veronica's parents illuminate her complicated, challenging family life. While David enters the election seeking to change things, the biggest change occurs within him after a series of revelations challenges David's assumptions about Veronica, as well as another student in the popular group. Van Dolzer alternates the humor of David's election-race antics with introspective moments focusing on his changing perceptions of Veronica's situation. David's narrative is a blend of candor and wry humor, conveying his earnestness beneath his uncertainty and bluster. His growing understanding of Veronica's struggle to achieve her dreams in music and life contributes to his increasing ambivalence about the election. Ultimately, David's emerging maturity is honestly won and will resonate with readers. A comic romp that's also an enlightening quest for increased awareness and self-understanding. (Fiction. 11-14)

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July 1, 2015

Gr 4-6-Krista Van Dolzer's second novel, hot on the heels of her The Sound of Life and Everything, (Penguin, 2015) revisits the well-worn school election trope through the eyes of David, a goofy class-clown type and budding trumpet player who decides to run for president against Veronica Pritchard-Pratt, the most popular (and presidential) girl in school. The biggest obstacle in making this fluffy middle-grade novel stick is that Van Dolzer's characters feel like the types on which they're based, and this town, with its school full of band geeks and "populars," could really be anywhere in the U.S. (and probably any time in the past 15 years.) A duet for the school recital goes a long way toward helping naive David and uptight Veronica open up to each other, and the author manages to twist her archetypes just enough to make Veronica's family issues and David's maturation genuinely sweet, bringing out unexpected depth in her lighthearted writing style. Most of the surprises come from her funny characterizations, not the development of the story-still, readers looking for realistic middle-grade fiction will find David a likable guide in a balanced lesson about ceding the spotlight. VERDICT A traditional but amusing school-age story with a good heart.-Abigail Garnett, Brooklyn Public Library

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