My Misadventures As a Teenage Rock Star

Gr 7—9—Alex is a 14-year-old geek from New Jersey who loves unicorns and is plagued by acne. She wants nothing more than to be popular and have lots of friends, but that doesn't seem to be the way her life is going. That is, until her older brother must leave his rock band and suggests that Alex fill in for him. Although this is a decent premise, the novel never takes off or goes anywhere. After only a few lessons from her brother, the teen miraculously becomes an amazing bass player, to the envy of all her classmates and new fans. All of a sudden, she is playing to sold-out shows, has one boyfriend after the next, and becomes a great skateboarder after a girl at the local skate park shows her a few moves. Alex learns that she wants to be straight-edge, avoiding all drugs and alcohol, and while this is an admirable trait in a protagonist, the message is force-fed in after-school special didacticism. The one-dimensional characters won't keep readers interested. The author's writing style is repetitive and unimaginative, and Chu's simple line illustrations add nothing to the story. The author may have firsthand knowledge of playing in a popular band, but that cannot save this uninspired novel.—Lauren Newman, Northern Burlington County Regional Middle School, East Columbus, NJ