When the Stars Go Blue

Gr 9 Up—Soledad is about to graduate from a Miami performing-arts high school and is weighing her options for a future dance career. Jonathan, a classmate and musician, has had his eye on her for the last four years and finally makes his move by inviting her to join his all-male drum and bugle corps to perform as Carmen on their summer bus tour. Romantic feelings influence Soledad's decision to join the corps but issues with Jonathan's family and a Spanish soccer player traveling the same fair circuit threaten the budding relationship. Soledad is a self-assured, feisty Cuban-American teen with a strong drive. She lives for dance, so it doesn't ring true for her to pass up an opportunity to join a dance company to be with a boy in a drum corps. The relationship between Soledad and Jonathan is thin at the beginning of the book, but the plot picks up when the soccer player enters the scene. This twist will hook fans of romance, and the book satisfies with a climactic ending.—Shawna Sherman, Hayward Public Library, CA