Book Review: A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

A Crooked Kind of Perfect is the only kind of perfect Zoe Elias can get.  She wants to learn to play piano, but she ends up with a wheezing organ.  She wants to play beautiful classical music, but she is stuck with old TV theme songs.  With a mother who works all the time, a father who can't leave the house, and a strange boy who always follows her home, it seems things will never be quite perfect in her life.  But, when she decides to play in an organist contest, she learns that her kind of perfect is just right.

Things I Liked: 
This book was a sweet story about a kid learning that the things you want in life aren't always what you get.  I loved Zoe and totally remember when I wanted things and instead I got something else (like a Cabbage Patch kid that my mother made instead of purchased).  I laughed through all of the lunchroom scenes, especially when Zoe is sitting with the boys.  This is a light and fun book with interesting characters and a useful message that won't hit kids right over the head.  Here are a few of my favorite parts:

"Had Lester Rennet ever seen a school lunchroom?  Did he understand that the lunchroom is a jungle, where sixth-grade beasts stalk the weak and dorky? Unfolding a revolutionary paper keyboard would be like picking a scab in a pool of sharks - the scent of blood would cause a frenzy." p 12

"I don't exactly know what smitten means, but it sounds okay, like I wouldn't mind if Colton Shell was smitten.  Like it might actually be kind of good to have somebody smittening me." p 103

Things I Didn't Like:
I have to admit to being annoyed at times with her parents.  I think that was part of the book's appeal, though.  Zoe is annoyed as well and we tend to feel the same way. 

Read-alikes:
Reminded me of Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
Also Shug by Jenny Han and Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: none

Overall rating: ****

Got a favorite tween read?  

Posted as part of Tween Tuesday, hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen.

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