But at least best friend Libby is there and happy to have Nate home again. And to his surprise, Nate isn't the target for bullies that he had been in middle school. Being on Broadway has given him some notoriety and, except for one homophobic name calling, the kids are pretty open and curious about his experience. Too bad the school has cancelled all "arts" classes, tearing down the auditorium to make a lacrosse field.
But that doesn't stop Nate from deciding to be creative for his English teacher, Mr. English, and planning a musical based on Charles Dickens' Great Expectations for his big English project (LOL - I read this my freshman year, too). With Libby's help, posters are made for auditions and lots of kids actually show up. The part of Miss Havisham is promised to shy Paige, the gym coach's niece in exchange for using the gym for the only performance of the Nate's musical.
Nate really throws himself into his production, while trying to keep up a long distance relationship with Jordan, who is part of the cast of a television show. At the same time, Nate meet Ben Mendoza, Mr. English's secret star student. Ben shows up at Nate's auditions, but doesn't want a part, just hangs around, filming stuff on his phone.
To make a musical requires music, so Nate and Libby decide to use some of Mr. English's favorite songs for the cast to lip-sync, song by people like Joni Mitchell, Elvis, Simon and Garfunkel. And it looks like Nate's musical version of Great Expectations is going to happen. And when Ben films the final dress rehearsal and posts it online, it gets so many hits, even Jordan in NYC watches it. Unfortunately, so do some lawyers representing the music Nate plans to use - and sure, he can continue to use those songs by those famous musicians for a mere $25,000 per song. Why? Because a ticket to the musical version of Great Expectations in the gym costs $5.00 and as any blogger knows, if you are making money, you gotta pay for what you use if it belongs to someone else.
It looks like Nate's show won't go on - or will it?
I was actually hoping Federle would write a third Nate book because between Better Nate than Ever and Five, Six, Seven, Nate! I just didn't feel as though Nate's story was over. So I was really happy to see Nate Expectations. Sure, he had a crush on Jordan and there was some kissing backstage, but Nate hadn't officially come out as gay by the time he returns home to Jankburg (well, except to Libby). But that part of Nate's journey is part of the focus in Nate Expectations and Federle does a great job of presenting it. And even though the tackles Nate's coming out, and even though he's a freshman in high school, this is still very much an upper middle grade fiction.
Nate again narrates his story, told in usual first person stream of consciousness that has all the energy, humor and snarkiness of a 14 year old, which can be a lot. I really liked the inclusion of Ben in this book because he's a much nicer kid and a lot more funk than self-centered Jordan. Nate and Ben both come from homes with some parental problems and hit it off almost immediately. I almost wish there were a book about Ben, too, cause I would love to know his whole story.
I don't usually comment on book covers but I was really disappointed by the cover of this book compared to the first two:
 |
| Really? |
This book is recommended for readers age 11+
This book was an EARC received from EdelweissPlus
I don't like the new cover at all!
ReplyDelete