Friend Is Not a Verb

Gr 7–10—When your girlfriend dumps you from her life and from her band, and when your sister returns after a yearlong absence but no one will tell you why she was gone, dreaming of being a rock star is a pretty good thing to do. After all, no one is paying any attention to Henry, or Hen as he is called by his friends. Hen works with the girl-next-door, Emma, to figure out why his sister ran away and then returned. Hen and Emma's search for the answer to this mystery is just part of the story—the real story is about Hen getting a social life and, eventually, a new girlfriend—Emma. The mystery is tied up too neatly and implausibly. The story drags, and not even a good reading by a quartet of narrators can rescue it. The New York accents are good, and one of the most enjoyable parts is the perfect impersonation of the VH-1 "Behind the Music" narrator during some of Hen's daydreams. However, the two plots don't mesh well, and listeners will not connect with the story or the characters.—Ann Brownson, Ballenger Teachers Center, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston