A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT

Linda Urban's poignant debut novel is filled with unique characters. Zoe Elias knows she's a prodigy destined to perform at Carnegie Hall like her hero, Vladimir Horowitz. However, her agoraphobic, obsessive-compulsive father comes home, NOT with a shiny baby grand, but with a wood-grained wheeze-bag Perfectone D-60 organ! Tai Alexandra Ricci breathes life into Zoe with the perfectly sassy tone of an almost 11-year-old whose reality doesn't match her dreams. Ricci has just the right tone of exasperation as Zoe deals with her father's Livingroom University courses. (He holds 26 degrees.) This book tugs the heartstrings, tickles the funny bone, and reaffirms the power of dreams. N.E.M. 2008 ALA Notable © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 08]