music – Page 4 – Mom Read It

Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

A modern twist on Cinderella: It Started With Goodbye

Posted on December 1, 2016November 6, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

It Started With Goodbye, by Christina June, (May 2017, Blink Books), $12.99, ISBN: 9780310758662

Recommended for ages 12+

Tatum Elsea’s not having a great summer. Accused of a crime she didn’t commit – she was trying to get her best friend away from her sleazy boyfriend, to add insult to injury! – she’s under her step-monster’s house arrest for the entire summer, AND her best friend won’t speak to her. She’s working on pulling invasive plants as a community service during the day, and at night, quietly launching a design business to keep from going crazy. Things start looking up when she gets a few nibbles for her design business, including a flirty exchange with a musician who needs a portfolio made to submit to colleges. Her stepmother’s mother is also staying with them for the summer while Tatum’s dad is away on business, and she brings got just a little bit of fairy abuela magic with her, whether it’s a little extra money from her bunco winnings to help Tatum out, or warming up the relationships in the house. Maybe Tatum’s summer will end on a high note, after all.

This is a very sweet, very fun, modern take on Cinderella. Tatum’s stepmother isn’t really evil, she’s just really, really strict; her stepsister is a ballet dancer that’s not as uppity as Tatum thinks she is; her fairy godmother plays bunco and watches Golden Girls while dispensing real talk. There’s a music fest instead of a masked ball, and a cute take on the glass slipper. I had a great time reading this; you’ll just feel better when you’re done. It’s very clean – my conservative readers and my tweens will absolutely embrace this – and the characters are all very likable, even if they are in need of some serious loosening up in the beginning.

A fun, light romance to add to your collections or pass along to teen romance readers. There’s some fun content coming down the pike from author Christina June, including a graphic design contest, playlists, and launch party in the DC area. Keep an eye on Christina’s author page and Blink’s webpage for updates.

Uncategorized

dotwav – Are You Listening?

Posted on October 4, 2016October 4, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

dotwav, by Mike A. Lancaster, (Sept. 2016, Sky Pony Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781510704046

Recommended for ages 12+

Ani Lee is a 15 year-old hacker who’s been given a file to keep safe. It’s no ordinary file, and people are after it – after Ani.

Joe is a 17 year-old American living in London, working for a top secret arm of British intelligence. He’s got a chip in his head that helps him control his violent temper, and it gives him some pretty incredible abilities. He’s checking out a new music craze among nerds – X-Core – and a possible link between this underground music scene and the disappearance of an old school friend.

Joe and Ani meet as their investigations converge, and they realize that the .wav file is no ordinary sound file. There’s something in that file that’s causing some pretty crazy reactions, and it’s directly linked to the X-Core movement. Conspiracy theorists, put on your tin foil hats, because the plot goes all the way up and involves some very important people. People who will kill to get what they want.

I do miss a good cyberpunk novel, and dove into dotwav, looking forward to a good technothriller. And dotwav is a good read, it just didn’t knock my socks off like I hoped it would. Something in the execution just fell a little flat for me. There were quite a few instances of over-explanation and soapboxing that dialed my interest down, for starters. I didn’t feel like I was invested enough in the characters to root for or against them. I did like where they went with the .wav file’s origin, but the conspiracy faltered a little. The ending left the possibility of a sequel open.

Add this to your shelves if you have techno-thriller, cyberpunk readers. I’d display it with some Cory Doctorow books, particularly Little Brother; for readers bridging the middle grade-YA gap, I’d also put out a copy of Dragons vs Drones. I know I’m dating myself, but I’d talk up Mr. Robot and the James Bond movies – and all the cool gadgets! – to flesh out Ani and Joe’s backgrounds and make them a little more tangible to my readers.

Fiction, Humor, Puberty, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Kill the Boy Band takes aim at fandom

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Kill the Boy Band, by Goldy Moldavsky, (Feb. 2016, Point), $17.99, ISBN: 9780545867474

Recommended for ages 14+

Four super fangirls stalk their boyband favorites with disastrous results in this insanely funny dark comedy.

The Ruperts are the boy band of the moment, and our narrator – who takes on the names of ’80s teen movie heroines – and her three (mainly online) friends have a plan to be near them, securing a room in the same hotel as the boys. When one of the girls encounters her favorite Rupert (they all have the same first name) at the ice machine, she overreacts and the girls find themselves with an unconscious boy bander in their hotel suite. And things get crazier from there. Each girl has a different agenda, and before the day is over, there are going to be some ugly revelations and even uglier circumstances.

Kill the Boy Band is at once a laugh-out loud black comedy in the vein of Pulp Fiction and Fargo and a scathing look at fandom and fangirl culture. Ms. Moldavsky takes aim at the culture that expects us to destroy our idols, even as we worship them. She looks at the long-established culture of loathing popstar girlfriends, celebrity stalking, and what happens when you find out that the man behind the curtain really isn’t Oz at all.

As a Duranie who was a teenager during the social media-bereft ’80s, Kill the Boy Band made me laugh and cringe, often at the same time. With boy band and fandom culture at an all-time frenzy now, teens will recognize themselves (hopefully, not too much) or laugh in recognition of someone they know. There’s a great whodunit that will keep readers guessing until the very last page – and maybe even after. You’ll laugh, and you’ll think – it’s a great book to have a discussion group with.

Great addition to collections with a thriving teen population that’s plugged in. This should be a good summer read. For older teens, consider introducing them to Pamela Des Barres’ I’m With the Band for a look at pre-online fandom culture.

Kill the Boy Band has been selected as an Independent Booksellers’ Debut Pick of the Season.

Preschool Reads

Akashic’s What is Punk: Music History for kids and parents!

Posted on August 24, 2015August 24, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

What is Punk? by Eric Morse, illus. by Anny Yi (Oct. 2015, Akashic), $15.95, ISBN: 9781617753923

Recommended for ages 3+

One of my proudest moments as a parent was when my husband and I would drive our then 7 and 3 year-old sons around, blaring The Ramones, and hearing them yell “Hey! Ho! Let’s go!” from their car seats. For every grownup who has children in their lives that need to know the awesomeness that is the punk movement, What is Punk? is for you.

Written in rhyme similar in meter to a Dr. Seuss story, What is Punk? tells the story of a movement: the beginnings, the bands, the public reactions – it’s all here, brought to beautiful life through artist Anny Yi’s clay figures. CBGB’s is there, as is The Clash, and The Ramones. The Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls, Blondie – all these and more are here, waiting for you and the kids in your life to discover them. Read this to the kids – the soothing cadence of the rhyme and the fun pictures will keep their attention. Then, throw a dance party with some favorites like Blitzkrieg Bop, Atomic, and Should I Stay or Should I Go. Let them jump, let them yell, let them whoop!

What is Punk? is a great novelty gift for the punk in your life, and it’s a great gift for a new parent who may feel a little overwhelmed by nursery rhymes and Disney Jr. I can’t wait to see the parents’ faces when I bust this one out in my storytime group. The book will be out in October, and is part of Akashic’s new Black Sheep Kids/YA imprint. In the meantime, to whet your appetite a bit, check out some of the artwork:

Media, TV Shows

Media Review: Yo Gabba Gabba: The Dancey Dance Bunch (DVD, Nickelodeon Studios, 2008)

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Directed by Scott Schultz and Christian Jacobs. 99 minutes. DVD. Nickelodeon. 2008. $14.98. ISBN 097368925847

Recommended for ages 1-5

Yo Gabba Gabba is a fun Nickelodeon series that teaches children social skills. The Dancey Dance Bunch DVD packages four episodes from Yo Gabba Gabba’s first season in 2007: Eat, Dance, Friends and Happy. Each 23-minute episode features human host DJ Lance Rock (Lance Robertson) and his costumed character friends, Muno (voiced by Adam Deibert), Brobee (voiced by Amos Watene), Foofa (Emma Jacobs), Toodee (Charme Morales), and Plex (voiced by Christian Jacobs). The group sings, dances, and plays together while teaching children lessons about friendship, eating healthy, and respecting one another. The show is live-action, with animated sketches and segments featuring real children dancing and playing. Celebrities including Elijah Wood, Mya, and Mark Mothersbaugh teach dance moves and give drawing lessons. The music, while geared toward a very young audience, is set to pop, rock, and hip-hop beats, and the songs stick with you long after the episodes are over. The sets are simple, almost stripped-down, so the emphasis is on the characters.

Color is an important part of Yo Gabba Gabba. DJ Lance Rock’s costume is bright orange, and the characters are all brightly colored. Children appearing in sketches often wear colorful clothing with Yo Gabba Gabba characters on them, and the backgrounds where the characters sing and dance range from bright green grassy fields to icy blue glaciers to 8-bit computer backgrounds. The characters’ voices are high-pitched like a child’s, but the language never speaks down to the audience; rather, it takes concepts like learning how to lose gracefully and simplifies the concepts through song and conversation to reach their viewers on their level: “We play games to have fun, not to win or lose”.

The episodes in this video can be used to teach toddlers and preschoolers alike about forming good habits early in life. In the episode Eat, for instance, the character Muno has a party in his tummy that carrots and string beans want to be invited to. Space and cleanup permitting, this could be a great idea for a healthy eating workshop, with finger foods like baby carrots, celery sticks, and sliced up fruit for preschoolers to invite to the “parties in their tummies”, while dancing and singing along with the video. It would be a great teaching tool for teachers and librarians alike, particularly with episodes that teach the joy of playing, that it’s more important to enjoy a game rather than worrying about winning or losing, and how to be a good friend.