Description
From multi-award-winning author Penny Tangey comes this funny, thought-provoking middle-grade novel about the highs and lows of music camp, and camaraderie in the climate crisis.
Miley and Juliet have nothing in common, apart from a love of music.
Miley can't afford the five-day Music Camp because she lost her home in a flood, but she's won a scholarship to attend. This is her chance to prove to everyone that the recorder is a serious instrument.
Flautist Juliet comes from classical music royalty. Her late father was an esteemed clarinet player and she wants to honour his legacy. She's also keen to make friends with people who don't know about her tragic past - though perhaps not with that girl who thinks the recorder is a serious instrument.
Over the week, Miley and Juliet don't always see eye to eye, especially when they both audition for the only woodwind solo at the final night's concert. But with torrential rain threatening to flood the camp, their dreams might get washed away. How can they put their differences aside and face the music together?
Review
Miley and Juliet both love music, and the thought of a whole week at Music Camp with Year 6 students from other schools sounds like heaven.
Miley lost everything in the floods last year. She’s living in a caravan, and playing the recorder is her escape. Juliet is struggling to cope with all of her mum's emotions after her dad died. He was a famous musician and Juliet wants to follow in his footsteps.
Miley and Juliet end up in the same cabin, along with Clara and Renee who are cousins. The girls don’t all get along, but over the week they learn a lot about music and have so many big challenges thrown at them that they start to look out for each other.
When the camp is cut short because of torrential rain they will need each more than ever - especially when the whole camp gets stranded by the floods, with not much food and everyone stuck in one building. Can they help each other through this?
This is great story with lots of fun and an underlying theme of climate change introduced through the teachers. The characters are wonderful and all have a variety of issues which they are dealing with. Music, family and friendship are the main themes throughout the book and being set in a camp gives lots of opportunities to show how people deal with being away from home.
A perfect novel for music lovers in the upper primary levels.
