A Crooked Kind of Perfect

by Linda Urban (Author)

A Crooked Kind of Perfect
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Reading Level: 6th − 7th Grade
cms Common Sense Media Review
Ten-year-old Zoe Elias has perfect piano dreams. She can practically feel the keys under her flying fingers; she can hear the audience's applause. All she needs is a baby grand so she can start her lessons, and then she'll be well on her way to Carnegie Hall.But when Dad ventures to the music store and ends up with a wheezy organ instead of a piano, Zoe's dreams hit a sour note. Learning the organ versions of old TV theme songs just isn't the same as mastering Beethoven on the piano. And the organ isn't the only part of Zoe's life in Michigan that's off-kilter, what with Mom constantly at work, Dad afraid to leave the house, and that odd boy, Wheeler Diggs, following her home from school every day.Yet when Zoe enters the annual Perform-O-Rama organ competition, she finds that life is full of surprises--and that perfection may be even better when it's just a little off center.
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Review quotes

What a generous spirit behind this book: one that celebrates the crooked quirks of its characters. I love Zoe's parents and her friend Wheeler, but most especially I love Zoe. She's perfect, in the most deliciously crooked kind of way.—Sharon Creech, Newbery Medal-winning author of Walk Two Moons

An impressive and poignant debut novel . . . filled with hope and humor.—School Library Journal

Immediately engaging . . . Zoe's world is drawn with sometimes painful precision, her emotions are revealed with empathy, and her story unfolds realistically, without the miracles she hopes for, but with small, sometimes surprising changes . . . sometimes funny, sometimes tender, this is a promising debut.—Booklist

Short, funny chapters full of exaggeration and exasperation provide lots of laughs . . . Readers with their own dreams, weird obsessions, and quirky hobbies will be heartened by the message that a few bumps, compromises, and sour notes along the way can pay off in a major key.—The Bulletin

Linda Urban
Linda Urban is the author of the picture book Mouse Was Mad, an International Reading Association Children's Choice, and the middle-grade novels A Crooked Kind of Perfect, Hound Dog True, and The Center of Everything. A former bookseller, she lives in Vermont with her family.

Madeline Valentine is the author-illustrator of The Bad Birthday Idea. Painting and drawing have been her favorite activities since she was smaller than Little Red Henry. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Classification
-
ISBN-13
9780152066086
Lexile Measure
730
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Clarion Books
Publication date
April 06, 2009
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV013000 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | General
JUV031040 - Juvenile Fiction | Performing Arts | Music
JUV014000 - Juvenile Fiction | Girls & Women
Library of Congress categories
Humorous stories
Family
Family life
Schools
Music
Interpersonal relations
Instruction and study
Organ (Musical instrument)

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