Good afternoon! How is everyone doing? Did you all have a good weekend? I managed to get some reading done as well as some general cleaning and taking some photos for Instagram. I’m glad I have more time to focus on my social media.
I really enjoyed doing it in the past but haven’t given it the time it needs lately. While I’ll never be an infulencer, I really enjoy interacting with the authors and other readers. A couple of weeks ago I read a new graphic novel from Sarah Clawson Willis called Band Nerd
Synopsis
Band Nerd is an excellent middle grade piece which focuses on the way addiction can effect the ones family. Lucy Carver’s biggest interest is music. It’s not only an escape from homework. But an escape from the rocky home life she has with her alcoholic father. Her father has had a few good periods, but as Lucy starts seventh grade things start to get bad again.
It doesn’t help that Lucy just started Windley School for the Arts. While Lucy wanted to go to this new school. But with its rigorous academic and artistic expectations, Lucy isn’t sure she can keep up.
Things soon get out of control with her parents and her schoolwork. In an attempt to control her life Lucy focuses all her energy on beating a snobby girl in her girl in her band class, Tolli Claybourne. Tolli seems to have everything Lucy wants, from being first chair flute in the band, to supportive parents.
However things are more complicated than they seem for Tolli. Just when Lucy thinks she’s getting ahead. She has an accident because of her father. This accident leaves her unable to play her flute. What’s more she has her mother threatening to pull her out of Windley for poor grades.
Review
This book does a great job showing the way addiction can effect the members of a family. Lucy takes the way that her parents are fighting personally. She feels like if she did better in school things would be better between her parents. She sees all of this as her fault.
At the same time she is mad at her father for embarrassing her in front of her friends. The way she copes with is by trying to minimize it. She shares her experiences with her friends like they are jokes. But its clear that she and her friends are both uncomfortable.
I also like the way that the text goes out of it way to show that Lucy is just trying to control the only thing she can. The text makes the point that all of the things Lucy was having trouble with aren’t her fault. They are simply symptoms of bigger problems. These problems need adults to do things. And it shows how things improve when her parents work on themselves and when she has support at school.
I liked this book a lot. I’d comfortably give it four stars. I’d recommend it to middle schoolers especially those who have an addiction problem in their family. I’d love to read more work from Clawson-Willis.
About the Author
Sarah Clawson Willis (she/her) writes fiction and nonfiction for children, teens, and occasionally adults. She can usually be found working, as she teaches Latin and writing in addition to being an author. She really, really likes books, band, ancient Rome, animals, and the serial comma. She lives in North Carolina with her family and a smallish menagerie of pets. You can find Sarah on the web at sarahclawsonwillis.com.
Emma Cormarie is a French American animation designer and illustrator originally from Bordeaux, France. While currently based in California, she works remotely with international publishers and studios. When she isn’t working, Emma can be found collecting cat pictures. Band Nerd is her first graphic novel.
Photo by Teddy Yang: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-wearing-white-long-sleeved-top-holding-grey-flute-2167358/
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