Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie
by Jordan Sonnenblick YFIC SON
Steven Appler is a pretty typical eighth grader. He’s
awful at sports but he’s a very talented drummer. He
has a huge crush on a beautiful girl in school but it appears that
she doesn’t know he’s alive.
One morning, Steven is making breakfast for his cute, but annoying little brother Jeffrey. Jeffrey falls off his chair and his nose won’t stop bleeding. Steven’s parents rush Jeffrey off to the ER and when they return, Steven gets the news that will turn his life upside down. Jeffrey has leukemia.
Soon all his mother’s time is taken up with Jeffrey and his treatments. His father can’t stop thinking about all the medical bills piling up and turns into a zombie. Steven is really left on his own and he turns to drumming to escape. He spends hours and hours practicing in his basement. He doesn’t want his friends to know about Jeffrey because he doesn’t want them to feel sorry for him. He stops talking to his friends and stops doing his homework. Eventually his friends and teachers figure out what’s going on and reach out to help him.
This sounds like an awfully sad book about a family in crisis. But it’s also a very, very funny book that shows you how life goes on even when you have big problems.
Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie is in the Fairfax County Public Library catalog.