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Synopsis
A middle-schooler struggles to cope with major family problems, including a brother who might be heading for the Persian Gulf, but finds an escape in piano lessons and the ...
Nancy McFarlin - Alan Review
To escape family problems, Justin Riggs sometimes escapes into "The Big Nothing" -- a place he can be who he is and not worry about his mom and dad splitting up, his older brother shipping out to Iraq, or whether Jamie Lewis knows he's alive or not. Justin is musically inclined and, when visiting one day after school at Jamie's house, discovers the piano and Jamie's grandmother, Nana Grace. When Nana offers to help him learn to play, he begins spending every spare minute at Jamie's practicing. The angst he seems to feel while his Dad and brother are away is diminished by his connection to the music, and he doesn't mind being around Jamie so much, either! Written more for middle school, Fogelin writes a sensitive, yet humorous, account of a boy coming to grips with adulthood too soon. Highly recommended. 2004, Peachtree Press, 235 pp., Ages young adult.