Got music?

Recently, I ventured out to help one of our discerning patrons find a book. To read. For an assignment. But he didn't want just any book (and really, who does?), he wanted one that had music in it. All I could think of was Fat Kid Rules the World, which is about a suicidal, morbidly obsese guy who thinks of himself as a huge loser, but somehow finds himself drumming in a punk rock band, even though he knows absolutely nothing about drumming. But my patron doesn't like punk rock, he's a blues guy. So I created this list for the next time he comes in. (And it does include Fat Kid Rules the World.)

Born to Rock (by Gordan Korman)
High school senior Leo Caraway, a conservative Republican, learns that his biological father is a punk rock legend.

Fat Kid Rules the World (by K.L. Going)
Seventeen-year-old Troy, depressed, suicidal, and weighing nearly three hundred pounds, gets a new perspective on life when Curt, a semi-homeless teen who is a genius on guitar, asks Troy to be the drummer in a rock band.

Yellow Flag (by Robert Lipsyte)
When seventeen-year-old Kyle reluctantly succumbs to family pressure and replaces his injured brother in the family racecar, he struggles to keep up with his trumpet playing while deciding how--or if--he can continue making music with a brass quintet and headlines as a Nascar racer.

Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star (by Randy Powell)
For a tribute to his mother, a dead rock star, fifteen-year-old Grady returns to Seattle, where he faces his mixed feelings for his retarded younger half-brother Louie while pondering his own future.

Hurricane Song (by Paul Volponi)
Miles Shaw goes to live with his father, a jazz musician, in New Orleans, and together they survive the horrors of Hurricane Katrina in the Superdome, learning about each other and growing closer through their painful experiences.

Gangsta Rap (by Benjamin Zephaniah)
When teenage Ray and his two friends, Prem and Tyronne, form a successful rap band in the London's East End where they live, they soon find themselves embroiled in increasingly violent gang warfare.

What a Song Can Do: 12 Riffs on the Power of Music
Contains a collection of twelve stories, by different authors, that celebrate the power of music. Includes works by Ron Koertge, Joseph Bruchac, Sarah Ellis, and Jennifer Armstrong.