Songs for a Teenage Nomad
by
Kim Culbertson
Kindle Edition, 256 pages
Published August 5th 2010 by Sourcebooks Fire
ASIN: B003YFJ5CW.
Awards: 2008 Ben Franklin Award for Best New Voice in Children's/Young Adult Fiction, the Silver 2008 IPPY medal for Young Adult fiction
About the book:
What is the soundtrack of your life?
After living in twelve places in eight years, Calle Smith finds herself in Andreas Bay, California, at the start of ninth grade. Another new home, another new school…Calle knows better than to put down roots. Her song journal keeps her moving to her own soundtrack, bouncing through a world best kept at a distance.Yet before she knows it, friends creep in—as does an unlikely boy with a secret. Calle is torn over what may be her first chance at love. With all that she’s hiding and all that she wants, can she find something lasting beyond music? And will she ever discover why she and her mother have been running in the first place?
About the author:
Kim Culbertson is the author of the teen novels Songs for a Teenage Nomad (Sourcebooks Fire 2010) and Instructions for a Broken Heart (Sourcebooks Fire 2011). She believes books make the world a better place and likes to be on the look out for books she really connects with and loves. Kim has been a high school teacher for twelve years. She lives with her husband and daughter in the Northern California foothills, where she often finds her own soundtrack pop up over the speakers of unlikely places.
image and information courtesy goodreads
My thoughts:
"Inside my dreams sits a song, way back in the shadows. It calls to me, and I wait to know it in the daylight, wanting to pull it like taffy from the haunts of my mind. Somehow, my memories begin with this song. I can't seem to put an image to it; it's a memory blurred and swirling, with no shape . . ."This is how the story begins. I was totally taken in by the beauty of the prose. Calle, the main character of the story goes on to explain . . .
This lets the reader know what the format of the book will be, I thought the concept very creative. I liked the flow, feel, voice, plot and characters in this story. The story mostly dealt with the overwhelming problems experienced by Calle, Sam and Cass and how they came together to support each other as good friends should."It's my song journal. I started writing down memories I get from songs. I hear one, mostly older songs, and I write down the memory it brings. Like glimpses of my life as I remember it. Snapshots."
I really like the whole music journal thing. The author says at the end of the book:
"Many people have songs that make them think of a place or experience in their lives. Perhaps the song reminds them of a trip they took, or of a sport they played, or of a friend who is important to them. Music is an important part of our culture, and one that is also deeply personal."She then includes guidelines on how to create your own song journal. I think this is something that would really appeal to young people. It appeals to me too--a fun way to look back through life and capture moments in time.
Even though the subject matter was somewhat sad, the book had a good feeling to it.
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book review blogs @Barrie Summy
6 comments:
This sounds cool and you're right it sounds like an awesome idea.
I downloaded this on my Kindle too..sounds creative and good!
I love the way you wrote this review. It's as if you were trying to let the book speak for itself. All the quotes were a tease as to the beautiful writing. I'm off to find this one.
Songs do bring about memories. What a great idea for a story. Thanks for the review!
I like how the character links emotions to music. The writing is good. Thanks for introducing us to this book.
Interesting premise. And now I'm dying to know why the girl and her mother are on the run! Thanks for the review.
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