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Material Type | Library | Call Number | Suggested Age | Status |
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| Book | Searching... Putnam Main Public Library | KEH | Young Adult | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
For sixteen years, Daisy has been good. A good daughter, helping out with her autistic younger brother uncomplainingly. A good friend, even when her best friend makes her feel like a third wheel. When her parents announce they're sending her brother to an institution--without consulting her--Daisy's furious, and decides the best way to be a good sister is to start being bad. She quits jazz band and orchestra, slacks in school, and falls for bad-boy Dave.
But one person won't let Daisy forget who she used to be: Irish exchange student and brilliant musician Cal. Does she want the bad boy or the prodigy? Should she side with her parents or protect her brother? How do you know when to hold on and when--and how--to let go?
" The Sound of Letting Go is deeply moving, fiercely honest, and always surprising . Stasia Ward Kehoe's characters are so real and complex, you won't want to let them go at the end. I loved this book! "--Barbara Dee, author of Solving Zoe , This is Me From Now On , Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life , and Trauma Queen
" Achingly beautiful , The Sound of Letting Go takes readers down a dangerous path while touching the heart and encouraging hope."--Elana Johnson, author of Possession, Surrender, and Abandon
"Told in verse that is at once delicate and strong, lyrical and honest , Stasia Kehoe's The Sound of Letting Go is a moving contemporary story of the intense push and pull between the responsibility of family and the freedom of dreams."--Jessi Kirby, author of Moonglass , In Honor, and Golden
"With captivating verse and a lyrical love story to match, The Sound of Letting Go will keep you hanging on, breathless and enchanted, until the very last page."--Gretchen McNeil, author of Possess , Ten and the forthcoming 3:59 and the "Don't Get Mad" series
" Soulful and stunning , this book has captured my heart. It's one of those tragic melodies you never want to end , a tribute to the damning and redemptive power of music."--Jessica Martinez, author of Virtuosity and The Space Between Us
" The Sound of Letting Go draws you honestly into the turbulent ambivalence of life with a severely challenged sibling, while never short-shrifting Daisy's individual coming-of-age journey. The music of Stasia Kehoe's beautifully flawed characters will resonate in your mind long after you finish reading her book."--Elise Allen, author of Populazzi , co-author of the Elixir series with Hilary Duff
Author Notes
Stasia Ward Kehoe grew up performing on stages from New Hampshire to Washington, DC. She holds a BA in English from GeorgetownUniversity and an MA in Performance Studies from New York University. She now lives in western Washington State with her husband and four sons. Stasia's novels include Audition and The Sound of Letting Go.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kehoe's second novel-in-verse, after 2011's Audition, movingly evokes the conflicting emotions of 17-year-old Daisy Meehan as her family teeters on the edge of falling apart due to her younger brother Steven's violent episodes. A skilled trumpet player, Daisy has used music as a means of escape from her chaotic home life for years. However, her parents, burdened by caring for Steven, "who has morphed from challenging autistic boy/ to dangerous, nonverbal near-man," are unable to give her the support she needs. Now that they are considering placing Steven in an institution, Daisy is torn, craving a respite from being Steven's "third parent," but also dreading the hole in the family his absence would leave. Daisy's increasingly large acts of rebellion undermine her chance to cultivate a friendship with a foreign exchange student who shares her passion for jazz. Instead, she turns to an old friend, who is no stranger to family conflicts. This painfully honest portrait of a family in crisis raises questions about love, responsibility, and self-sacrifice as it moves gracefully to a difficult but realistic resolution. Ages 12-up. Agent: Catherine Drayton, InkWell Management. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Star student and gifted trumpet player Daisy is furious when her parents decide they must institutionalize her autistic younger brother, whose increasing violence makes home life dangerous. The difficulty of decision-making is echoed in Daisy's mixed-up feelings about alluring bad boy Dave and Irish exchange student (and fellow jazz musician) Cal. Kehoe's novel in verse is a compassionately told, compelling story. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Autism is a family affair. When the child is on the severe end of the spectrum, the physicality develops in intensity, and the daily mood is measured by the fear of burnt toaster waffles. Daisy Meehan's younger brother, Steven, is reaching a point where his careworn parents are unable to withstand his strength. For years, Daisy has sought the comfort and solace of playing her trumpet in her basement studio and with her high-school jazz band. Kehoe chronicles the Meehans' saga, from managing Steven's autism to his eventual transfer to an assisted facility, using a soft and moving tempo of verse. Daisy's struggles to understand what is important for Steven, her parents, and her future lead her back to Dave, a childhood friend who is now an enticing bad boy; deeper into her friendship with Justine; and toward a musical alliance with Cal O'Casey, an Irish exchange student. All the while, it is the cadence of her music that transports Daisy through the rhythms of her awakening.--Bush, Gail Copyright 2014 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-Daisy Meehan is the kind of daughter who makes her parents proud. She is studious, a musical prodigy, and sacrifices her social life to help out with her brother, Steven, who has a severe form of autism. But when Daisy's parents decide to institutionalize her increasingly violent brother, she revolts. She quits band and starts dating the local bad boy. Kehoe's verse novel is a raw look at conflicting emotions and the healing power of music. Readers will be immersed in Daisy's battle between relief and guilt as she comes to terms with the fact that her brother will be separated from his family. She feels trapped in the quiet, careful household created to appease Steven, and her tension is alleviated at the idea of living without her brother. Daisy must then confront her own guilt over her feelings. Kehoe explores the power of music as it heals not only Daisy's pains but calms her brother's violent outbursts. This realistic portrayal of a family nearly torn apart by crisis will interest fans of romance, music, and drama.-Tiffany Davis, Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
"Change...is scary." And family breakup is never easy. Learning that her parents plan to place her unpredictably violent autistic brother in a group home, accomplished trumpet player and responsible older sister Daisy Meehan experiments with bad behavior in her junior year in high school, trying to figure out how she feels about it. Is this freedom? Does she want it? The author of this moving story underscores her point as Daisy and exchange student Cal O'Casey work out a fictional autobiography of a newly freed slave for an AP history class. Has Daisy's family been enslaved by her autistic brother, now big and frighteningly strong but still nonverbal? Will Cal, also a talented jazz musician, be a slave to his family's business back in Ireland, or her old friendturned-boyfriend Dave Miller to his family's straitened circumstances? What does/would 13-year-old Steven want? As she ponders the dissolution of her own family, Daisy also considers her friends' parents' divorces. Families come apart in many ways and for many reasons, but in a small New Hampshire town, most everyone knows what's going on. Written in short lines of free verse and short chapters, this accessible narrative moves along quickly and believably, ending satisfyingly without suggesting that all has been resolved. An intriguing medley of music, teen romance, high school life and serious family issues. (Fiction. 13-18)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
