Second Fiddle: Or How to Tell a Blackbird from a Sausage [Hardcover]

Siobhan Parkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2007 | Age Level: 11 and up

Aspiring writer Mags Clarke has just moved with her mother to a new area after the death of her father. Because her feet are usually firmly planted on the ground, Mags is cautious about befriending Gillian, whom she enchantingly finds playing the violin high up in the trees near her house. But the two get acquainted and embark on Project Manhunt: a plan to find Gillian's absent father, the only one who can send Gillian to an audition for a prestigious music school. Their strategies differ, making the road to true friendship a bumpy one. Second Fiddle is a thoughtfully crafted portrait of family and an unlikely friendship forged around a noble goal.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–8—Setting her story in rural Ireland, Parkinson develops the character of Margaret Rose Clarke through the use of first-person narrative. Mags, 12, speaks directly to readers, often explaining her use of dialogue and literary device, letting her audience in on the formation of the novel. ("I am plan-ning to be a writer when I grow up, and I am going to use this story to practice a few little phrases that might be a bit sophisticated." "I've thought a lot about intriguing openings….") Her father has recently died, causing her mother to sell their family home and move to the country. Wandering through the woods, she meets Gillian, a talented musician who has a chance to audition at the distinguished Yehudi Menuhin School of Music but who needs to find her father to ask for plane fare. Mags turns the search for Gillian's father into a mystery to be solved and attacks the problem with considerable energy. The contrast between these two characters, both missing their fathers in very different circumstances, as well as the relationships between Mags and Gillian and Mags and her mother, are artfully rendered, giving readers insight into the protagonist's heart and mind. She is smart, wise, outspoken, and not always as sure of herself as she appears on the outside. While the story has a definite ending, to which Mags adds a short chapter in an attempt to tie up all loose ends, it begs to continue.—Wendy Smith-D'Arezzo, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Twelve-year-old Mags tells her story of how, while exploring the woods near her new home, she hears music and observes a girl slightly older than herself fiddling with abandon near a forester's hut. The girls become friends, and Mags soon enlists herself as lead detective in Gillian's hunt for her sort-of-missing father, whose funding she needs for an audition at a prestigious music school. (Gillian's mother has no interest in her daughter's exceptional musical skill.) Though Mags claims that her story is not like "those other realistic novels" about death, divorce, and other problems, she is not entirely credible; she's dealing with problems herself, most notably, her father. All the same, Mags is a lively narrator, secondary characters are well drawn, and the novel deals gently with friendship and sensitive family issues. Heather Booth
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press; First Edition edition (April 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596431229
• ISBN-13: 978-1596431225
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,822,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely book, August 2, 2007

By 

mimagirl "Miss Erin" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Fiddle: Or How to Tell a Blackbird from a Sausage (Hardcover)

Second Fiddle is told from the point of view of Mags Clarke, aspiring writer. Mags comes across a girl playing a violin in the woods one day - a girl with remarkable musical talent. Her name is Gillian, and soon Mags takes it upon herself to help Gillian along with her quest to go to a famous (and expensive) school for musicians. But as Mags writes in the beginning, "This story is mainly about me. It was going to be mainly about Gillian, but I have to admit that, when it comes down to it, I find me more interesting."

This was the best book I read in all of June. What captured me from the very beginning of this book was the voice the author gave to Mags as the narrator. Mags was smart, honest, and she felt completely real. It seemed as if the story was actually being written by this imaginative young girl. With its lovely descriptions and witty humor, Second Fiddle was an altogether delightful read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Second Fiddle About This Book!, April 17, 2011

By 

M. Lee (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Second Fiddle: Or How to Tell a Blackbird from a Sausage (Hardcover)

As a mother who screens everything her 11-year-old American daughter reads, I always get a kick out of books that reference Enid Blyton. It's a shame Ms. Blyton is not more widely read in the United States, but "Second Fiddle or How to Tell a Blackbird from a Sausage" by Siobhan Parkinson was just going to be another-girl-finds-best-friend-who's-very-different-from-her book until it was obvious that Ms. Parkinson enjoyed the same books I did growing up! The book is written to have been written by Mags, speaking alternatively as Gillian - so the set-up of the book is pretty intriguing already. Some parts of the book reminded me of Maeve Binchy and Franck McCourt, which is hardly surprising, since the author is Irish and the story set in Ireland. What I really liked about it is how this is not just that this book stands alone - but that the ending is not exactly predictable, and not exactly joy-in-the-air happy. It's a little like Irish lager, actually: bitter-sweet yet smooth! Said daughter, in her sunny way, enjoyed the book on a completely different level:

"The book, 'Second Fiddle or How to Tell a Blackbird from a Sausage' by Siobhan Parkinson was a funny story about Project Manhunt, a project like no other. I thought that the book (Mags in particular) was also very original.

"Mags is new to the neighborhood and already she's made her mark. Gillian is not new at all and yet she and her brother live in a tree house when they are not at home with their opera-singing mother. But when Gillian needs money for her audition in England, the two join forces to find Gillian's father. But will Mags and Mira...I mean Gillian, find her father? Or will Gillian miss her one and only chance to get into the Yehudi Menuhin school in England?

My favorite part was when Mags decided not to get a ride from the bus driver who was driving a car because she wanted to please her mom. But when she got home soaked in sweat from running all the way home, her mom said she *could* take rides from bus drivers! I thought that was very funny and ironic because Mags went through all that trouble, and, then her mom said she could have taken the ride.

"I would definitely give the book five stars: one for being a book everyone can laugh at, two for the funny way Mags wrote the book, and two for the plot of unexpected friendship and trust."

5.0 out of 5 stars Great voice!, May 28, 2009

By 

Danette Haworth (Sunshine State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Fiddle: Or How to Tell a Blackbird from a Sausage (Hardcover)

I love this book! The voice is strong; the internal dialogue is hilarious. I definitely recommend it.