Drum Roll, Please

When Melly and her best friend go away to a summer music camp, Melly isn’t expecting her friend to ditch her and to be navigating the reality of her parents’ decision to divorce. But she learns to find comfort in playing the drums, and her quest for self-empowerment unfolds in a heartwarming and entertaining tale of resilience, friendship, and self-acceptance. In an intermediate elementary classroom, this novel lends itself well to a themed collection or literature circle selection around self-identity, friendship, middle-school romance, self-discovery, LGBTQ2S+, music for personal expression, or divorce. It may be of particular interest to students who are curious about these topics, making it a suitable choice for independent reading for a middle-school audience.