Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

Jordan Sonnenblick doesn’t skirt around the difficult issues in this book – coming to terms with denial, anger, and bargaining among the everyday and all-consuming world that middle school can be.  Thirteen year old, Steven does not only have to focus on getting good grades, but also practicing for the All-Star Jazz Band while dealing with friends and teachers, when his world is turned upside down by his younger brother’s leukemia diagnosis.  Almost immediately his father becomes a distant man, his mother is taking care of his brother and Steven stops paying attention in class and doesn’t do his homework.  With the eventual help of a close friend and the school guidance counselor, Steven begins acknowledging the seriousness of his brother’s disease and how to take positive steps to take control of his life.  This would be a wonderful book to open discussion about serious illness, family responsibility, and more.  I’m so glad I got the chance to finally read this book, it’s definitely one I’ll suggest to kids looking for a more-serious realistic fiction book.
Check out other books written by Jordan Sonnenblick on his website!
Title: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
Author: Jordan Sonnenblick
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 2005
Page Number: 273 pgs.