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Dec 17, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

Humor is just so hard in children's books. You either crash too hard on the adult side of the equation (see: The Manny Files) or you end up going too far the other direction and end up ridiculously scatological (see: Out of Patience). The balance has to be perfect and, if you want your book to be memorable, also work in some real emotion, heart, and (God help us all) learning. Because this mix is so difficult, you rarely end up with a book quite as pleasant as Linda Urban's "A Crooked Kind More...

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Jun 20, 2009

Marjorie rated it:

I adored this book. Hilarious, sad, suspenseful, and definitely quirky-odd-good.

Loved Zoe's resilience. She gets dumped by her best friend and is invited (by former friend's mom, who doesn't know of the dumpage, in the way that moms of 11-year-olds always know nothing) to former friend's party, where she is dressed wrong and brings the wrong gift. Ack! Who hasn't been there?? The portrayal of hyper-sophisticated, dismissive, clique-y, Bratz-wearing (called Brat here, mistakenly but More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 24, 2007

Carter rated it:

Victoria will be playing 'Getting jiggy with it' on her Hammond J-80.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2011

Amanda rated it:

Ten-year-old Zoe wants to play the piano, but instead, her dad gets her a Perfectone D60 organ. This is not the only problem in Zoe’s life. Her mom almost never comes home from work. Her dad has some sort of social anxiety problem, so he almost never leaves the house. Her best friend at school finds a different best friend, and a weird boy named Wheeler starts following her home. Zoe doesn’t think her life will ever be perfect, but through playing ‘Hits of the Seventies’ and the theme songs from More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 27, 2007

Brandy rated it:

I haven't heard a lot of buzz yet about Newbery contenders, but I'd say this is one of them. It's another quiet story with all the action being character development, without a lot of outside plot to muck it up. It's ostensibly a middle-grade novel, with a protagonist who is 10 years old (going on 11), but the book's appeal will be more for older teens or adults--readers who remember being that age, rather than readers who are that age.

That said, as an adult, this is a very good More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 22, 2008

Judith rated it:

This is such a charmer of a book, gentle and funny and completely satisfying. I love the understated way the dad's inability to deal with the world is handled (it's agoraphobia, actually), the growing friendship between Zoe and Wheeler Diggs and the way Zoe refuses to give in to the popular girls, even though she'd kind of like to. ("I have gone over to the dork side.")

The organ competition at the end is so perfectly observed: the swoosh-click of the swing door; that feeli More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 27, 2007

Lauren rated it:

This is not necessarily the type of book I would normally pick up, but the author is a former children's bookseller. That right there peaked my interest because as a children's bookseller I knew she had to have hundreds of children's books over the years and could easily tell a good one from a crappy one, which gave her an edge over a lot of authors. Plus, other children's booksellers that I know gave the book rave reviews. And they were right. It's just such a good story - great characters with More...

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Dec 08, 2008

Hannah marked it as to-read

i really want to read it but i am in the middle of another book right know

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 11, 2009

Jaemi rated it:

Zoe Elias has grand dreams of being a pianist. For her, there is nothing better to be. She imagines evening gowns, audiences awaiting in anticipation, beautiful recitals, much adoration. So you can understand how, when her father comes home with a Perfectone D60 Organ, instead of her lovely piano, why she's a little upset. In fact, she's fairly sure this might be unforgivable.

But the organ came with free lessons, which she reluctantly agrees to take. Miss Person (read: Persaaahn) is More...

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Jan 17, 2012

Julie rated it:

Meet Zoe Elias—she’s ten years old and dreams of becoming a classical pianist and playing at Carnegie Hall. Zoe’s dad is agoraphobic—he is afraid to leave his house. He spends his days taking a variety of classes from the Living Room University. And Zoe’s mom, the Comptroller for the State, works all the time. Zoe’s dad was supposed to buy her a piano but instead he bought an organ—a Perfectone D-60. In addition, Zoe’s best friend, Emma Dent, is moving on. They’re not best friends anymore but Zo More...

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Oct 19, 2011

Mary added it

School Library Journal (September 1, 2007)
Gr 4-6-An impressive and poignant debut novel. Eleven-year-old Zoe dreams of giving piano recitals at Carnegie Hall. When her father purchases a Perfectone D-60, though, she must settle for the sounds of the organ rather than the distinguished sounds of a baby grand. Her organ teacher, Mabelline Person, notices the child's small talent for music and recommends her for the "Perfectone Perform-O-Rama"; she will play Neil Diamond's "Fore More...

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Apr 26, 2011

Clarabel rated it:

Ce petit roman a été une agréable surprise. Il est drôle et très fin.
Il raconte l'histoire d'une fillette de dix ans qui rêve d'apprendre à jouer du piano et se retrouve avec un orgue. Enfin, il s'agit tout de même du Perfectone D-60 ! Pour Zoé qui rêvait de devenir la nouvelle Vladimir Horowitz et briller au Carnegie Hall, la désillusion est énorme. Toutefois, inutile de baisser les bras. Elle suit avec assiduité les cours de Mabelline Person, un prof particulier qui aime boire du Canada More...

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Aug 17, 2010

Brenda rated it:

My daughter and I finished reading A Crooked Kind of Perfect tonight, after she read it out loud to me every night. She is ten, and told me she wanted to take a break from Percy Jackson to read me this book "because I would love it". The characters in A Crooked Kind of Perfect are charming, unique and flawed, as we all are. I loved Zoe, the main character, and her outlook on life, as she "adapts" her dream to play a "wheezy organ" in place of a baby grand. Instead o More...

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Jul 05, 2010

Erin rated it:

This is a sweet story, and (not to ruin it for you) the ending is so hopeful and positive I couldn't help but enjoy this quaint little story. Zoe ends up with an organ instead of a piano, and for much of the book that represents how her life is going. Instead of glamor, fame and class, she plays on a 'cozy,' outdated organ, still wears socks, has lost her old best friend, and has a workaholic mom and a limited dad. The charm for me was in how each problem was addressed and, if not solved, at More...

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Nov 01, 2009

Natalie rated it:

I'm surprised by how much I liked this book. It has so much appeal to 4th/5th grade, maybe even 6th grade. The chapters are very short and nearly self-contained. It's witty. The characters are eccentric but in a way that's normal. Zoe is a ten year-old girl who desperately wants to be a prodigy pianist so she can play at Carnegie Hall. This is mostly her story - of learning to play the keyboard (pianos are too expensive) - but you also get to meet her parents and her friends. Her dad has a serio More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 17, 2009

Beth rated it:

The back of this book notes that this is a novel for ages 8 to 12. Well, I'm more than 8 to 12. I'm more than 8 *plus* 12. But then again, I watch Arthur and listen to High School Musical.

So it shouldn't be much of a surprise that I found A Crooked Kind of Perfect to be absolutely delightful. It had it all: good morals; quirky characters; and plenty of humor in the less-is-more (or should I say "Les is More"?), pun-filled writing. It had a fashion-backward, piano-lovin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 10, 2009

Lisa rated it:

Zoe's life is not like other kids. Her mom is a bit of a work-a-holic, her dad hates to leave the house and spends all of his time getting correspondence degrees that arrive in packets via UPS.

When Zoe decides she is a musical prodigy and wants to play the piano her dad makes a rare trip out of the house and buys her a Perfectone D-60 wheeze-bag organ.

Zoe wants to make music, so she plays the wheeze-bag organ and gives it her all. She is encouraged by her organ teacher (s More...

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May 14, 2009

Barky rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jul 18, 2010

Yoonmee rated it:

Zoe Elias dreams of one day playing the piano in Carnegie Hall, but, instead of a piano, her quirky father purchases an organ -- a Perfectone D-60 to be exact. As if this weren't disappointment enough, her best friend has dumped her for another girl and one of her classmates, Wheeler, is now spending all his afternoon at her house baking with her father (who seems to have some form of agoraphobia or panic disorder and cannot leave the house w/o panicking). To top it off, her workaholic mother More...

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May 29, 2009

Samantha rated it:

As an adult reading this book, I wanted to delve far more deeply into the psychology of Zoe's parents. I wanted to know about their relationship, and whether her mother ever resented her father for his neuroses. But, as always when reading a children's book, I had to take out my adult brain and put in my ten year old's brain. And from that perspective, "A Crooked Kind of Perfect" was exactly that. (I know, I'm sure everyone has used that joke in their review.)

As a fou More...

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Sep 07, 2011

Rapunzel rated it:

When I picked out this book I did not think beyond the fact that it sounded interesting, I liked the socks on the cover, and I wanted to read about someone learning how to play the organ. My decision was not premeditated. I had just recently finished reading something about The Phantom of the Opera and so just the word organ caught my interest. I had thought that it would be interesting and if it was not, oh well, I spent less than four dollars on it.

What I was not expecting was a boo More...

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Oct 26, 2011

Laura rated it:

What a great book for readers in grades 4 - 6! I put off reading this title because I had some idea that it was a mediocre read. And I was totally, thankfully wrong! Linda Urban writes with an authentic, snappy style that is so easy to get into. Zoe Elias wants, with her whole being, to be a piano prodigy but unfortunately, she doesn't have a piano. Instead, her father purchase an organ and Zoe ends up stuck taking lessons. She enters a Perform-O-Rama contest and learns a lot about herself More...

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Jul 24, 2009

Regina rated it:

Enjoyable story about almost 11-year-old Zoe Elias, who would really like to play the piano, but gets a cheesy Perfectone D-60 organ instead. She sticks with her lessons, though, and even has fun. Her organ teacher encourages her to enter the local Perform-O-Rama contest for Perfectone players. Along the way she loses a so-called best friend and makes real friendships with kids who value her for herself and her lopsided talents. Her workaholic mother and her agoraphobic dad add complications to More...

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Sep 22, 2011

Natalie rated it:

A gem of a book for young girls, I'd rate age range from 8-13.
This is a tightly written 1st person narrative about a young girl who wants desperately to play piano but her dad gets an organ instead. With her upcoming organ contest as a backdrop, the reader is introduced to the protagonists world of a workaholic mother, OCD/phobia father, and her relationships with peers. I found the book quirky and different yet spot on in the portrayal of pre-teen relationships.
What I enjoyed the More...

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Jul 14, 2010

Amanda rated it:

I love this book! It is one of my ultimate favorite stories and I read it like ten times! I love the character of Zoe. You can really tell she is passionate about playing the piano, but she is understanding when her crazy dad gets her a perfectone360! In the beginning, she basically gets "dumped" by her best friend, but she finds ways to get through that and she just leaves it in the past. So, when she becomes friends with Wheeler Diggs, the boy she use to terrify, I was happy aga More...

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Jan 09, 2012

Araksi added it

I chose to read this book because my cousin really recommended this book to me. This story is about a girl who wants to become a pianist. Then one day, her dad brought home a Perfectone D60 Organ and she got upset because she wanted a grand piano. This girl, Zoe, has a big dream of becoming a pianist. My favorite quote was when Zoe's mom said," Take it up with the Domestic Affairs. Talk to your dad." Zoe's mom is trying to say talk to your dad so he can get Zoe a piano. I like this quo More...

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Jan 31, 2012

Colby rated it:

Sometimes authors write 5 star books, and sometimes authors are 5 star writers. Linda Urban is a 5 star writer.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 03, 2008

Ashlea rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Nov 02, 2009

Cindy rated it:

Eleven-year-old Zoe dreams of nothing but learning to play the piano. She has no doubt that she will be giving piano recitals at Carnegie Hall one day, wearing a floor length gown and a tiara on her head. Instead of a piano her father, who get overwhelmed by crowds and people, ends up buying a Perfectone D-60 organ. Zoe was disappointed but went ahead with the lessons. Zoe was shocked when her instructor told her to that she thought she should enter the upcoming competition. Zoe was worried More...

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Mar 30, 2010

Cristina rated it:

A team of Miami-Dade County Public School teachers is organizing the Battle of the Books reading challenge for fifth grade students in seven different schools. All participating students will have to read from a list of seven books and one of them is A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. Here’s what it says on the jacket flap:

Ten-year-old Zoe Elias has perfect piano dreams. She can practically feel the keys under her flying fingers; she can hear the audience's applause. All she More...

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