Jay Versus The Saxophone of Doom. Kara Kootstra. Pictures by Kim Smith. Toronto, ON: Puffin Canada, 2016. 182 pp., hardcover & epub, $18.99 (hc.). ISBN 978-0-670-06940-8 (hc.), ISBN 978-0-14-319375-3 (epub). Grades 4-6 / Ages 9-11. Review by Tabitha Nordby. **** /4

excerpt:

It�s not that I don�t like music. I just lack a few of the skills required to play it. Like rhythm. And pitch. And everything else that has to do with music. EVIDENCE: My parents have a video of me in my very first school play. I was in grade one, and we had worked for months to prepare a musical presentation all about how the caterpillar turns into a (SPOILER ALERT) butterfly.

Now, I realize that it is not expected that a seven-year-old is going to give a flawless performance in a grade school play, but I was TERRIBLE. It is seriously hard to watch. I am completely out of time with all of the actions, and my squeaky, out-of-tune voice is clearly heard above everyone else�s (I was singing super loud because when you�re seven you don�t know you should be embarrassed yet).

Jay (short for Jason) lives in Parry Sound with his family. Although his mom is embarrassingly loud, his dad is a wanna-be-hipster, his sister, Jodie is perpetually annoyed, and his brother, Dylan ignores him half the time, Jay�s life is running pretty smoothly. Or it was - until this year.

     Jay is starting grade six, and it hasn�t been a great start. His clothes are uncool, the school bully is in his classroom, and, to make matters worse, Jay�s just discovered that this year they are required to take a full hour of music. Which means that Jay has to learn to play an instrument. In front of the whole class. Solo.

     It�s not that Jay�s afraid of pressure. He plays center on the Parry Sound Shamrocks (the same team Bobby Orr played on as a kid), and he can hold his own. He may not be the biggest or the fastest, but he�s got skills. But playing an instrument in front of people by himself? This is not going to be Jay�s year.

     Fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Dork Diaries will enjoy this story of grade six gone awry as experienced by the funny and endearing Jay Roberts.

Recommended.

Tabitha Nordby is a Readers� Advisory and Reference Instructor in the Library and Information Technology Program at Red River College in Winnipeg, MB.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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