Copyright: 2007
Zoe has a dream of becoming a Prodigy in Piano, but that dream is shattered when her dad brings back a Perfectone D-60, a "wheeze-bag" as Zoe calls it. Zoe tells her dad that she is destined to play the piano but her dad just signs her up for "More with Les" musical lessons at a senior center. Zoe tries very hard at playing the organ, but finds it difficult and almost gives up.
This is a classic story of one girl trying ever so hard to fit in at school, when the worst thing happens. Zoe goes back to school after Christmas Break, all ready to pour her troubles and broken dreams onto her best friend, Emma Dent, when she sees it: her best friend Emma Dent not sitting at their regular table, but, sitting with Joella Tinstella! Zoe begins the long walk over to her so-called friend, but, to her dismay, Emma says: "Me and Joella are best friends now, but you can sit here until you find a new best friend if you want". Zoe, now friend-less and with no piano, has gone over to the "dork side".
After practicing with Mrs. Person, Zoe is told about the Perform-O-Rama. Zoe asks her mom if she can drive her to the event and she says yes, but a few days later on Zoe's birthday her mom calls home and tells Zoe's dad that she cannot drive Zoe anymore to the Perform-o-Rama. Zoe's dad says that he will drive her to the Perform-O-Rama instead of mom. At the Perform-O-Rama, Mrs. Person shows Zoe to Mona and her mom. Mona is another contestant at the Perform-O-Rama and tells Zoe everything she should expect at the show. The Perform-O-Rama lasts for two days, so on the second day Zoe's mom drives her.
Zoe and Mona become fast friends and once the show is over, they stay friends and Zoe even goes over to Mona's house.When Zoe gets home, she is surprised to find a beautiful cake for her belated birthday, that her dad and Wheeler made for her. (Wheeler is a boy that I forgot to mention earlier; he is the one who invited her to sit at the boy's table at lunch when Emma wouldn't). When Zoe finds out that Wheeler made the Marzipan Zoe holding a trophy, she thanks him profusely. Then her mom gives her the best birthday present ever...a piano! Zoe is ecstatic when she hears this and can't wait until it arrives the next day.
So in the end, Zoe gets two new friends, a piano, a fourth place trophy, and a crooked kind of perfect life.
I absolutely loved this book because it told a beliveable story that would probaly happen in real life and I'm sure everybody who reads it can relate to it somehow, be it losing a friend or having your one and only wish be ruined in one day.
Linda Urban Writes just like she is writing in a journal, and tells you day by day how Zoe's life gets worse or possibly better. I could never put this book down while I was reading. I was amost afraid of missing something really important that happened to poor Zoe.
Linda didn't try to slow the story down or speed it up, she just wrote it like it came and wasn't afraid to even put some humorus kids jokes in the story, e.g "The Dork Side..."
To Read Not to Read
Thanks, I LOVE DINOSAURS, for such a long and interesting review! I SO want to read this book now!
ReplyDeleteI read this book and I found it OK, just not the best I've ever read. It was kind of a light read, since the scenes in the story were only a couple of pages each. Some of the parts in the story weren't well explained by the author, but I still enjoyed the novel.
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