Tempo Change [Hardcover]

Barbara Hall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2009

It’s tough enough defining your identity—imagine if your father was a rock legend.

Blanche Kelly's dad is a famous indie rock icon, but not many people at the private school she attends on scholarship know this. Her father left when she was in the first grade, and she can’t quite forgive her mom for not understanding that an artist like her dad needs the time and space to connect to his muse.

When Blanche creates an all-girl rock band, their sound captures a wide audience and the band is invited to compete at the Coachella Music Festival. Blanche feels this could be the perfect time for a reunion with her father. Won’t he be proud to hear her band? Won’t he be happy to get to know his only daughter?

Author Barbara Hall sensitively explores the expectations between parents and teens, as well as the value of learning about your past to make your own future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hall, a rocker as well as an author (The Noah Confessions), is familiar with the trappings that accompany life as a musician, yet this novel about a high school band's moment in the sun teeters between glam and corny. Sixteen-year-old Blanche Kelly's father, a famous musician, has been out of the picture for the past 10 years, and her mother is a recovering alcoholic. Blanche, smart but lacking a social life, starts a band called The Fringers on a whim; the group wins some local competitions and goes on to play at the Coachella music festival. She enjoys the spotlight, but is crushed when her selfish and aging rock star dad, who has resurfaced, is not what she expected. Blanche is a religious skeptic, which lends the book some depth, and music buffs will appreciate nods to Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith and the like. But the clichéd vocabulary used to describe the music scene and the tepid dialogue between Blanche and her dysfunctional parents may disappoint. Ages 12-up.
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From School Library Journal

Grade 7–10—Blanche, a high school sophomore, does not want to be defined by her father. A renowned musician, Duncan Kelly disappeared at the height of his career, abandoning not just his fans but also his six-year-old daughter. Of course, no one at the teen's downscale prep school even knows her father is famous, and she treats her own songwriting like a dirty secret. Blanche is headed straight for college, no detours and no messing around—until she suddenly decides to start a band. Things go smoothly at first, but soon tensions develop among the band members, followed closely by an identity crisis for Blanche. Is she a freak, or an artist? The one thing she knows is that she is not a normal person for whom everything is certain, which is how she classifies her mother, many of her peers, and, eventually, her bandmates. It takes meeting her father to realize that the world isn't divided into those who made it and those who gave up. Tempo Change treads familiar paths and the plot is sometimes contrived, particularly the unreasonable premise that the entire novel is Blanche's memoir, written over the weekend at the request of a reporter. Still, readers will be drawn by the protagonist's frank narrative and her insider/outsider perspective toward music culture. Give it to fans of Cecil Castellucci's Beige (Candlewick, 2007) or Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist (Knopf, 2006).—Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA END

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 247 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; 1 edition (June 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038573607X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385736077
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,282,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tempo Change is A Must Read, July 27, 2009

By 

Elizabeth Wonderham (Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tempo Change (Hardcover)

I think anyone, teens and young adults mainly who love music and/or want to be a musician should read Tempo Change. Tempo Change is a must read book. Once you get into the first few chapters, you'll find yourself reading page after page without putting the book down. This is one of my favorite books, I've ever read. This book is about Blanche Kelly her dad left 10 years ago who was a famous musician, left the family to go find himself. Blanche wrote a music column for her school newspaper, but she knew she wanted to be a musician, so she deiced to make a band with a few of the people she knew at her school. I can't tell you the rest, because I would be giving too much away. This book is a great read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, July 10, 2009

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tempo Change (Hardcover)

Gold Star Award Winner!

"There was so much to say......Now I had someone to say it to."

Blanche Kelly knows good music. She knows music because of her father, Duncan Kelly. He was a musical genius, in his prime.

But most of the people at Laurel Hall Academy (fondly referred to as LaHa by its students) don't know this detail of her life. She tries to keep his influence hidden, but it's always there - the guitar he left with her mother; the music column that she writes for the school newspaper; the snippets of lyrics that Blanche begins to pen.

It all culminates with the creation of The Fringers, an all-female rock band, sprung from the mind of Blanche Kelly herself. Blanche does not necessarily want to start a band, but her over-bearing guidance counselor feels that it would be best if Blanche "stretch" herself artistically. So, The Fringers are born, and a journey begins.

Blanche learns much about herself as a musician, as a daughter, and as a person. Her journey is surreal, yet surprising and profound.

TEMPO CHANGE is an excellent novel. It reminded me a lot of the film Almost Famous. William Miller and Blanche Kelly are very similar characters. Both are thrust into the music industry and must find their way without losing any integrity. Even if you are not familiar with Almost Famous, the book still resonates.

If you are passionate about something, anything, read this.

Reviewed by: LadyJay

5.0 out of 5 stars Great voice!, July 5, 2009

By 

Mint910 (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tempo Change (Hardcover)

I really liked the main character, Blanche's voice. She's spunky, sarcastic and she speaks her mind. She is what she is and she seems fine with it. She has a unique perspective.

One of my favorite things about this book was Blanche's journey to Coachella and meeting her father again. In the form of creating a band called the Fringers from girls she plucked from different parts of her life (her friend, a girl with a wonderful voice in her choir class, and a girl she works with but never really knew). She brings them together and creates what looks a really awesome band. I love the whole scene that they get thrust into and how they bond as a group and become friends and what it helps Blanche learn about herself.

My other favorite thing was Blanche's family. Her and her mother trying to cope with her father leaving when she was six, why did he leave, would he ever come back? And also Blanche trying to get used to a new man in her mother's life, one that also might have some insight to offer her.
I thought Blanche's reunion with her father was an interesting one, I found it rather honest.

About half way through the book there is a strange twist that sort of takes the attention away from Blanche. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. It was interesting but at the same time I think I could have done without it and spent a little bit more time with Blanche just being Blanche. So there's that.

Overall I found this book to be pretty unique and enjoyable!