A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT

All ten-year-old Zoe Elias has ever wanted is a baby grand so that she can become a star who dazzles Carnegie Hall. She doesn’t know how to play, but that’s a minor stumbling block. What she gets instead is an old, wheezy organ, a gift from her well-meaning, agoraphobic dad. While workaholic mom is hardly ever home, Zoe resigns herself to learning to play the instrument, all the while encouraged by her skittish father and a newfound supportive pal. Wouldn’t you know that she turns out to be great at it and goes on to win in competition? There’s a lot of knowing, child-friendly humor here, not the least provided by Zoe’s hoot of an organ instructor. Readers should enjoy the fast-paced, brief chapters, silliness and tongue-in-cheek first-person narration. The author doesn’t pull out all the stops, and the ending is pat, but this is still a satisfying read. (Fiction. 9-12)