Raw Talent

Written by Jocelyn Shipley

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-1834-7

138 pp.

Ages 11-14

August 2018

Everyone wants to help out Sunflower Farm, the family farm of Stonehill High students Vanessa and Heath. Since the death of their father, their mother has been struggling to keep the farm running and the school community is coming together for Farmshine, a performance and market fundraiser.  Raw Talent's narrator, Paisley who is Heath's Grade 9 classmate, intends to volunteer with her best friend Jasmeer but what Paisley really wants to do is perform. Her ambition is to be a singer-songwriter and she has no problem posting videos of herself performing but her stage fright is discouraging her from signing up to sing at Farmshine.  With a mother who is an accomplished flutist with the symphony and a university music teacher, Paisley is just not sure she can cut it on stage.

With celebrated singer-actor Maxine Gaston staying at Jasmeer's parents' B & B while her local home is being renovated and she is performing at the Stratford Festival, Jasmeer arranges for her to coach Paisley to help get over her performance anxiety.  Maxine Gaston is a great help but Paisley, who has much to overcome because of a disastrous audition at age 10 with the award-winning Sweetland Singers, is being harassed online, by phone and in person by Cadence, the self-important girlfriend of Heath and soloist with the Sweetland Singers.  Can Paisley get beyond her insecurities about her lower singing voice and Cadence's nastiness to stand up in front of an audience and do what she loves?

Raw Talent is a feel-good hi-lo novel for older middle graders and young teens. While written at an easier reading level, Raw Talent's story, part of the Orca Limelights series based in the performance arts, will resonant with young teens aspiring to new endeavours but unsure of their abilities. Jocelyn Shipley makes sure that the reader realizes that having a dream is futile if you don't set goals to achieve it.  It's up to Paisley to decide what she can and cannot do. Not her mother, not Cadence, not the director of the Sweetland Singers. Just her. She might have been devastated when she didn't get into the Sweetland Singers but she found a way to continue singing and performing albeit in the privacy of her room while still sharing it publicly. Then, with Maxine's coaching, she has the opportunity to take steps forward. Though not easy, especially with self-doubt and bullying that erodes her confidence, Paisley steps up. Jocelyn Shipley doesn't just hand Paisley the opportunity, though.  She makes sure the girl works for what she wants. Maxine Gaston is encouraging but she is not effusive and she makes it clear that, if Paisley isn't willing to put herself out there, she's not going to bother coaching her. That could be an "ouch" moment, but it's not because it's a challenge that Paisley accepts. Similarly, the bullying that Paisley experiences via Cadence is nasty but impactful and still she finds the means eventually to toss it off with a "Whatever". 

Whether Jocelyn Shipley intended, she's affirming Nietzsche's belief that "That which does not kill, makes us stronger".  Paisley's performance anxiety and Cadence's bullying can't stop her and, in fact, they give her the opportunity to be more than she could have imagined for herself.

Totally Unrelated

by Tom Ryan
Orca Book Publishers
978-1-4598-0458-6
120 pp.
Ages 11-14
2013

Today a student at school asked me for a book that wasn't too long and had a bit of romance and a fairly straightforward, contemporary plot.  Any of the titles in Orca's new Limelights series would fit this bill perfectly, including Totally Unrelated, which I intend to take in for this student tomorrow.

Fifteen-year-old Neil is part of The Family McClintock, a traditional Celtic musical group made up of his parents, his Gran, older brother Shamus, older sister Kathy, twins Molly and Maura, and younger brother Johnny. All of them are multi-talented, playing an assortment of instruments, or singing, or step- and Highland dancing.  That is, except for the anomalous Neil who only plays guitar.

When his best friend, Bert, suggests that they enter the Deep Cove Talent Show, Neil is initially unconvinced that they could pull an effective band together.  But after a church fundraiser at which Neil meets Sandy, a teen staying at a local summer cottage rental with her Gran and young brother Beast (a.k.a. Bailey), and learns she can play guitar and sing, Neil is convinced it could work.  In fact, it gives Neil the practice that makes him a better performer with The Family McClintock and gives him the opportunity to try his hand at singing, something at which he doesn't think he can excel.

While Dad is supportive of Neil participating in the Deep Cove Talent Show with his friends, the expectation is that The Family McClintock should be his priority, as it is for everyone in the family.  The conflict arises when Neil learns that the talent show is on the same night as the family's big gig opening for the Vince Beach Band in Halifax, four hours drive away.

While most readers will never have the kind of conflict that Neil experiences, courtesy of his musical family, there will be that critical time in their lives when being with the family begins to clash with times with their friends and times when they'd like to be more independent.  Performing as The Family McClintock may be financially worthwhile, helping to put the kids through university, but it is major commitment, particularly time-wise with family members only getting Thursday off regularly.  Along with Kathy who is in university and considering taking a course that would take her away from Nova Scotia, Neil has a legitimate grievance, and one for which his family is not prepared. Still, Tom Ryan has created Neil as a good kid who goes along with his family and tries to work within their restrictive schedule, but he's still a teen who is interested in girls (or rather one particular girl) and looking to distinguish himself in a Totally Unrelated way.

I appreciate the lack of overwhelming angst soaked in despondency and meanness that the teen vs. family scenario could produce.  Tom Ryan presents Neil's situation and solution as viable scenarios to handing these awkward and potentially family-ripping circumstances.  Totally Unrelated is a positive reflection of how a teen can share and extend his own interests without jeopardizing the family dynamics.  Think of Totally Unrelated as a how-to of letting your child become more independent without pushing them away or losing them, and allowing them to become successful adults who don't need to rely on their parents to create lives for them. Seems Totally Unrelated would be a worthwhile read for parents and children alike.

Cut the Lights

by Karen Krossing

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-0413-5

129 pp.

Ages 11-14

October, 2013

Briar may only be in Grade 10 at the Whitlock School of the Arts, but she already knows that she wants a career as a director.  And being selected one of the seven students to direct a play–in fact, her best friend Ratna's play "Wish Upon a Star"–at Whitlock's Fringe Festival is an auspicious beginning.  But negotiations with the other directors, most more experienced than herself, for the available actors leads to some animosity when Briar doesn't follow protocol and offers Sonata, the best actor at school, the lead role.

Even knowing that "Casting is a balance between the ideal and the real" (pg. 22), Briar seems to be struggling with her crew: Sonata, who gives far too much advice; Mica, her male lead who is too infatuated with Sonata to think straight; Clayton, her rather drab star, who breaks his arm; and George, her stage manager, who is too often distracted from doing his job.  When gossip starts that Ratna's play is cursed, Briar learns the trick to directing is empowering her cast and crew, and recognizing that her vision can be adapted to others' ideas and feelings.

While young readers will enjoy the performing arts aspect of Cut the Lights and other titles in Orca's new Limelights series, it is still the characters that will grab their attention and their hearts.  Karen Krossing's Briar may come across as pushy and bossy but it's just the director in her.  When things seem to be falling apart, she knows enough to get some advice about teamwork and reins herself in for the good of the production.  Surprisingly, it's by looking at her team as individuals beyond their roles that ultimately leads to success.  Without making Briar altruistic or unbelievable, Karen Krossing has created a character who learns to make good choices by considering others' needs, something most of us should do more often.  Those choices make the production a success and mark Briar as a true leader.  I can say the same for Cut the Lights and Karen Krossing, respectively.