Girl vs. Boy Band: The Right Track

by Harmony Jones

Overview

Talented but painfully shy eighth-grader Lark secretly writes feisty, heartfelt songs about her life-about school, crushes on boys, not getting along with her mom, and missing her dad who lives in Nashville. But that secret becomes harder to keep when Lark's mother, a music record executive at her own label, announces that British boy band Abbey Road will be coming to live with them while they make their first album!

Sharing her L.A. house with three noisy, mischievous rising stars isn't as glamorous as expected, especially when things aren't going smoothly with the band members. When one of them plagiarizes one of Lark's songs and passes it off as his own, will Lark gain the courage to step into the spotlight herself?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619639485
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/14/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	767 KB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Harmony Jones is the author of many novels for children and young adults. She splits her time between Connecticut and the Rhode Island coast, where she lives happily with her husband and their two incredibly spoiled golden retrievers. She is a lifelong fan of pop music, and even has a whole room in her house dedicated to her favorite group of all time – the Beatles!

Editorial Reviews

"A light, pleasant read. . . . Satisfying." - School Library Journal

From the Publisher

03/01/2016
Gr 5–8—When 12-year-old Lark's parents separate, it makes sense for her to join her mother Donna in Los Angeles, as her session musician father is constantly on tour. Donna's attention is on building her business, a record label she has launched herself. While Lark has one good friend in L.A., she misses Nashville and her dad. She throws herself into her music, playing guitar and composing songs she won't sing in public—Lark suffers from terrible stage fright. But everything changes when Donna signs a British boy band called Abbey Road to her label—and invites them to live with her and Lark. Young, cheeky, and good-looking, the boys add a level of upheaval and change to the household. Family, friendships, and dreams are all themes within the novel that will appeal to the intended age group. The boy band lingo, accented with British slang, is usually explained within the context of conversations. Both Lark and the Abbey Road boys share their backgrounds, and a few cultural insights are gained by the characters and readers. There is some banter from one of the boys that has mild sexual overtones, but that aside, the book could be given to most upper middle graders wanting a light, pleasant read, rather than a more issues-driven and complex title. VERDICT The plot is swiftly paced, and while there are few surprises, the work is satisfying and easily readable.—Michelle Anderson, Tauranga City Libraries, New Zealand

School Library Journal

2016-03-30
Three lads, members of an aspiring British boy band, move into the Los Angeles home that 12-year-old Lark, a budding musician, shares with her newly divorced mother, who's just started her own record label.This would be a dream come true for most girls, but Lark is not thrilled, despite the fact that the boys, ages 14 and 15, are handsome and talented. The white girl is still reeling from her parents' divorce, her separation from her beloved father, and the move from cozy Nashville to alien Los Angeles. Lark writes, plays guitar, and sings, and although she works hard honing her craft, stage fright keeps her away from the limelight. In the course of the story, the first in a new series, Lark begins to adjust to her new living situation, starts working musically with a dreamy schoolmate, and takes the first steps to becoming the performer she was born to be. The cleverly titled book's pluses include an appealing premise tailored for middle-grade girls and a sympathetic protagonist that readers should be rooting for from the get-go. The negatives consist of an all-around blandness, air of predictability, and a lack of detail and specificity, in both the characters and particulars of the music world.Romance and musical stardom are the twin lures in this lite but likable pop-fiction series opener. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews