A Part to Play by Jennifer Fry

“She was lost, where all she could see, all she could hear, was him. The music filled every part of her; the holes left by her parents and Kate.” 

Lucy was an ordinary teenager until the accident, BA (before accident). She had a wonderful older sister, Kate, who she adored and admired. Then suddenly Kate has a terrible car accident and dies. Lucy’s family just stops and life can’t seem to go on without her sister Kate. Lucy’s mother falls apart and her parents separate. Lucy feels the blame for her sister’s death like she should have been the one in the car; she should have been the one to die. Subsequently, Lucy is shipped off to a Performing Arts boarding school where she tries to deal with her grief. Lucy comes close to getting expelled from school when suddenly she finds a young muse, a talented musician, who she falls in love with. Through this love she recreates her love for acting and finds the ability to push through the pain and the nightmares. But at what cost? Unfortunately as her relationship begins to become much more intense with this young man they both struggle to become their own people and Lucy begins to lose herself.

This is a heart-wrenching story with raw emotion and real characters.  I couldn’t put this book down. I laughed and I cried throughout the story. A Part to Play is a beautiful coming of age story about a young girl who has loved and lost and the power she finds deep inside of herself to put her life back together again.  There are many wonderful themes including romance, family problems, bullying, and death.

I would recommend this story for Grades 7 and up.  This book is available in eBook format as well as paperback, and audio. This would make a wonderful present for your favorite teen this holiday season. Check out this young new Marin author, Jennifer Fry. 

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The Bear in the Book

This story actually sums everything up that I have been saying about the importance of picture books. Right here in this book, the author has actually recreated a scene of reading a story to a child but incorporating the story within a story. It is brilliant! The story begins with, "Once there was a book..."

It is bedtime and a little boy chooses his favorite book on the shelf for his mother to read to him. A story about a bear, a big black bear who goes to sleep for the winter. As the mother is reading the story, the little boy turns the pages and asks questions about the bear. The fabulous rythmic text is brought to life by Georg Hallensleben's vibraint paintings.

We get a glimpse as a reader about the interplay between a child and his mother during their bedtime ritual of reading a story. The author has created a perfect model of how a mother and child share a book together, right down to the cuddling on the bed, looking at the pictures, and talking about the concepts in the book. And just as the bear is waking up from his long winter's sleep, the little boy begins to close his eyes for the night. Once again a picture book that truly shows the power that books have in connecting books to readers.

This could easily be one of the Caldecott winners for 2012. Recommended for ages 3 and up.