Helen Rutter has a reputation for funny, authentic, touching stories of modern-day young people. Her first book with Barrington Stoke will boost that further.
Lacey is the kind of child that all teachers and children will recognise – smart but disruptive, angry, lonely, a frequent visitor to the head’s office. Written from Lacey’s point of view, we understand the turmoil and problems that make her behave the way she does, and how much she needs the calm and quiet that – to her enormous surprise – is provided by music therapy sessions.
To accommodate its young readers, the plot develops into a campaign to save the piano she plays at the station when the council plan to remove it, but by then they will understand just why the piano is so important to Lacey. It’s a story filled equally with humour and compassion, starring a young person too seldom given a voice in fiction, a feel-good read that is full of truth and insight.
Lacey's smart tongue and quick temper are constantly getting her confined to isolation at school. But there's a lot more to her that most people never see, and when Lacey gets sent to lunch-time music lessons to keep her out of trouble, she discovers a love and talent for the piano that opens up a whole new world for her. Just as she's really beginning to make progress, her music teacher has to leave, which throws Lacey back into turmoil.
Will she go back to her self-destructive ways or will music offer her a way to save her from herself?
A touching and nuanced look at complex family relationships and the difference support can make for children both at home and at school, told with real heart and perfectly balanced humour.
'Very funny, very touching, very truthful - a total delight to read.' Jacqueline Wilson
'This incredible debut tugs at your heartstrings and makes you laugh out loud in equal measure. I guarantee you'll be cheering along in the final pages!' Lisa Thompson
'It's Wonder with one-liners.' Scott Evans, The Reader Teacher
'As warm and wise as it is funny.' Shappi Khorsandi
'A laugh out loud story, the like of which I've never read before.' Kerry Godliman
'This book is a great way of showing children how to be confident and winners by having a sense of humour and making others laugh.' Baroness Floella Benjamin
'This book is brilliant. It is funny, wise, kind and exciting.' Marcus Brigstocke
'So funny and joyful.' Rachel Parris
Author
About Helen Rutter
Helen Rutter is an acclaimed author and comedian. Her debut novel, The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh, was selected as a Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month, in addition to being nominated for the Carnegie, shortlisted for the Costa, Blue Peter and Branford Boase Awards, and winning the Teach Primary Book Award. The idea for this story came from her son, Lenny, who has a stammer: she wanted to write the book that he would love to read, starring a child like him. She hopes that children will be able to relate to feeling unheard, different from the rest and unable to find their voice.
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