Rock'n'Roll Fiction (YA)

TheRoadieLibrarian: It has been many years since I read this book. What has stayed with me all this time is how much I enjoyed reading a story about a young woman finding her way in the music industry as a band manager. Most fictional stories about rock’n’roll are about members of a band, and I have yet to read another book apart from this one where the protagonist’s ambition is to manage the band instead of being in the band. She does a great job too, despite various setbacks and challenges, and it is her intelligence, tenacity and problem-solving skills that save the day. - The Roadie Librarian

TheRoadieLibrarian: This book centers on a young drummer and the adventures and misadventures on his first tour. I mostly enjoyed reading this book; I think people who are drummers and/or audio engineers might get more out of the technical references throughout the book than I did – at times it felt reminiscent of sitting around in the front lounge while Team Audio talked shop. However, I think anyone reading this book who has been in the concert touring industry for a while will find themselves as I did; both nostalgic for the memories this brought back of my first time on tour, and simultaneously grateful that those days are far behind me. For any young person who wants to tour, this book does a pretty good job of illustrating the work that goes into club-level concert tours. I think one of the biggest challenges in writing a story about concert touring and the music industry is how quickly entertainment technology, music production, and music distribution can change over time. Reading this book in 2025, just over 10 years since publication, it felt dated at times; an important story arc relies on traditional radio play instead of streaming music or social media platforms. And even for 2014, it was hard to believe that a teenager would choose to send emails to friends over text messages or DMs. My biggest critique of this book is that I had a hard time with the main character being believable as a seventeen-year-old; he was just a little too self-aware, mindful, and reflective, in ways that (in my experience) doesn’t happen to people until they are past their teenage years. I think the storyline would have worked better if the main character had been presented as a college freshman instead of a high school junior. That being said, I would love to know how someone who has personal experience touring with their band before age 18 thinks of the main character in this book. -The Roadie Librarian

TheRoadieLibrarian: Sixteen short stories centered around the Battle of The Bands contest at a high school in New Jersey. Each story was written by a different author; some of whom are experienced musicians, on tour and in the studio. This comes through nicely in several of the stories as there are details that only someone who has been around the inside of the music industry would think to include, and this makes it a more entertaining read for those who work (or aspire to work) in entertainment production. My favorite story was The Sisterhood of Light and Sound, written by Jeff Zenter. I was trepidatious to read this one as it had a high potential for disappointment, and instead it was a celebration of the bonds that form between the backstage crew – and these three characters just happened to be all girls. I think the story is the first time I have encountered a book that accurately portrays teenage girls doing backstage jobs. While there are plenty of young women out there doing these jobs, it is rare to see them represented in fictional media in such a positive, competent, and intelligent way. -The Roadie Librarian