The Frail Days

by Gabrielle Prendergast

Overview

Sixteen-year-old drummer Stella, guitarist Jacob and bassist Miles need a wild singer for their old-school rock band.

When they discover nerdy Tamara Donnelly, who nails the national anthem at a baseball game, Stella is not convinced Tamara’s sound is right for the band. Stella wants to turn Tamara into a rock goddess, but Tamara proves to be a confident performer who has her own ideas about music and what it means to be epic cool. When their band, the Frail Days, starts to build a local following, Stella and Tamara clash over the direction the band should take, forcing them to consider what true musical collaboration means.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459804661
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2015
Series:	Orca Limelights Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
Lexile:	680L (what's this?)
File size:	803 KB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Gabrielle Prendergast is an award-winning writer, teacher and designer. She has written many books for young people including the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize winner, Zero Repeat Forever and the Westchester Award winner, Audacious. She lives in Vancouver with her family.

Editorial Reviews

"The dialogue is authentic, and the vocabulary is varied, interesting and appropriate for the intended audience. Characters are realistic, and the plot is believable. The theme of performing and finding a voice is well explored in this novel...The Frail Days would appeal to a variety of readers, including readers of music, relationships and realistic fiction...Highly Recommended."

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

"While the themes are serious, the lively first person narrative by the iconoclastic Stella (piercings, fire-engine red hair, different fake tattoos every week) makes this a dynamic and funny novel."

Resource Links

"A timely read for kids looking at chasing dreams of their own."

LibraryThing

"A pleasing choice for high/low readers with an interest in the music biz."

Booklist

"A timely read for kids looking at chasing dreams of their own."

LibraryThing Early Reviewer Stephanie Q.

"A pleasing choice for high/low readers with an interest in the music biz."

Booklist Online

"The dialogue is authentic, and the vocabulary is varied, interesting and appropriate for the intended audience. Characters are realistic, and the plot is believable. The theme of performing and finding a voice is well explored in this novel...The Frail Days would appeal to a variety of readers, including readers of music, relationships and realistic fiction...Highly Recommended."

CM Magazine

2015-02-03
Stella, a Chinese-Canadian rock drummer, yearns for success for her band.Sixteen-year-old Stella needs a lead singer and finds a major talent in Tamara when rival band Fantalicious dumps her because she's not skinny enough. Tamara believes she can never project the right image for a popular singer, but when she sings, she loses herself completely in her music, making a solid impression on Stella. Tamara agrees to join Stella's hard-edged rock band but fears that their style will keep them out of the upcoming festival. She's sure that the cutesy, pop-oriented Fantalicious will wind up headlining, and Tamara wants to beat them. The two girls become fast friends, and the group starts to create some outstanding original songs, but divergent artistic goals threaten a schism. Meanwhile the band begins to attract attention around their small town, especially that of a key tastemaker. Prendergast displays excellent insight into what makes young artists tick in this short novella. Characterization is deftly done: Stella has an attractively rebellious edge to her personality, and Tamara's character grows naturally in confidence. Punchy, insightful and great for music lovers. (Fiction. 11-18)

Kirkus Reviews