A Crooked Kind of Perfect
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Stephanie Farnlacher, Trace Crossings Elementary School, Hoover, AL -- School Library Journal, 3/21/2008
A Crooked Kind of Perfect (unabr.) 3 CDs. 3:17 hrs. Prod. by Listening Library. Dist. by Listening Library/Books on Tape (library.booksontape.com). 2007. ISBN 978-0-7393-6144-3. $30.
Gr 4-6–Zoe wants to play the piano more than anything in the world and, if given a chance, believes she can be a prodigy. But when her father comes home with a Perfectone D-60 organ instead of a piano, Zoe knows that her dreams of becoming a world famous pianist are slipping away in Linda Urban’s novel (Harcourt, 2007). The fifth grader takes this in stride and works hard anyway, perfecting the 1970s tunes that are in her lesson book, which leads to her participation in the Perform-O-Rama competition instead of playing at Carnegie Hall. Zoe approaches other issues in her life with the same accepting attitude. She doesn’t dwell on the fact that her father appears to suffer from a disorder that involves fear of leaving the house and interacting with others, and her mother is a workaholic. Tai Alexandra Ricci voices Zoe as a calm, level-headed child. Through humor and realistic situations, this story teaches youngsters about making the best of even bad situations and working hard to succeed.
