Missing the Piano - Hardcover

Gr 9 Up-Mike, who is looking forward to trying out for his high school basketball team, has his world turned upside down by a chain of events that occurs after his younger sister gets a part in the road show of Les Miserables. Since their mother must travel with Alice, Mike is sent to live with his father, whose second wife wants no part of this new arrangement. The boy suddenly finds himself enrolled in St. Matthew's Military Academy, a boarding school ``where boys become men.'' Rapp portrays the school as an extremely bleak place where abuse and bigotry are constants. Mike is continually badgered, bullied, and bloodied, even on the basketball court, the one place he hoped to find refuge. His black roommate is expelled after physically confronting one of his tormenters, but Mike hangs on, largely because he has no where else to go. The ending offers a glimmer of hope but doesn't dismiss any of Mike's ongoing problems. Rapp produces an above-average read, showing a knack for sustaining the tense mood of the story. The subplot involving the racially motivated hazing is a bit weak. The character development of the cadets who display the blatant bigotry is slight, offering readers no insight into their actions. The language throughout is sharp and raw, and a number of mature situations are presented. All in all, a dark story that leaves plenty of room for a sequel.-Tom S. Hurlburt, La Crosse Public Library, WI

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