A Crooked Kind of Perfect

A Crooked Kind of Perfect

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86  ·  rating details  ·  5,472 ratings  ·  823 reviews
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 needs is a baby grand so she can start her lessons, and thenshe'll be well on her way to Carnegie Hall. But when Dad ventures to the music store and ends up with a wheezy organ instead of a piano, Zoe's dreams hit a sou...more
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published September 1st 2007 by Harcourt Children's Books
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A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda UrbanThe Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet by Erin DionneConfetti Girl by Diana LopezPippi Longstocking by Astrid LindgrenDeep Down Popular by Phoebe Stone
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1st out of 28 books — 71 voters
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8th out of 250 books — 286 voters


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Community Reviews

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Betsy
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 of Pe...more
Marjorie Ingall
Jun 20, 2009 Marjorie Ingall rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: 4th to 6th graders, chicklit lovers, anyone who loves books about quirky girls
Recommended to Marjorie by: saw it in the library, liked the cover!
Shelves: girls-6-12
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 amusingly ca...more
Brandy
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 story--a girl c...more
Judith
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 feeling you get when you kno...more
Jeana
It's sweet, endearing, & silly--that's why my 10-year-old daughter loves this book so much and has read it more times than I can count. It's very tender at the end (even I was crying when Zoe realized that the mom was happy about Zoe, not work) and I loved seeing everyone find happiness at the end.
Lauren
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
Hannah
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
Jaemi
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 not the worl...more
Cheryl Gatling
This book is fun and funny. My daughter and I read it together. It's the story of how Zoe wants to play piano, but gets an organ instead, and how she practices to compete at the Perform-A-Rama. It's the story about how she gets rejected by the cool girls, who wear Brat brand clogs, and (unlike Zoe) never wear socks. It's about a scruffy boy named Wheeler who follows her home and becomes a part of her family, whether she likes it or not. My favorite parts of the book were about Zoe's weird family...more
Julie Esanu
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
Mary
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 "Forever in Blue Jeans."...more
Clarabel
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 Dry b...more
Brenda
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 of classical music, she has to...more
Erin
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 lea...more
Ms. Sapkarov
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
Beth
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-loving protagonist who sometimes...more
Lisa
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 (six months of free lesson...more
Karin
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Dena (Books for Kids)
Read more reviews on my blog: Books for Kids
Quirky, humorous, and entertaining, A Crooked Kind of Perfect is an adorable middle grade novel with loads of personality. The short chapters add to the overall quirkiness and young voice of the main character, Zoe.

With a full set of fascinating and funny characters, you can't help but love this story. Zoe is an adorable little girl that has big dreams of playing the piano and being a prodigy. Even though things don't work out the way she planned or h...more
Jan
Nothing is really perfect in Zoe's life, but her optimistic point of view keeps her plugging along, always expecting good things to happen. And when they don't happen quite like she expected, Zoe rolls with the punches and gets on with her life. When she wanted to take piano lessons, her dad signed her up for group lessons with "More with Les." Nine students sat at folding tables with cardboard keyboards. Zoe then explained to her dad that she really needed to practice on a real piano. Her dad w...more
Yoonmee
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 is...more
Samantha
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 fourth or fifth grader, I like...more
Rapunzel
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 book that mad...more
Tiffany
Genre: Realistic Fiction

I have to admit that I have never read or at least don't remember reading realistic fiction before. As much as I love to read a wide variety of books, novels and poems, I am reluctant to admit that I have never found realistic fiction to be something I was drawn to. I realize now that the reason I never got into it was that I never found a story I could relate to. This book by Linda Urban is a book I can relate to. I fell in love with Zoe from page 1! She jumped into my m...more
Laura
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, her...more
Nobies57
10 year old Zoe dreams of becoming a concert pianist like Vladimir Horowitz and playing on a shiny black baby grand to a Carnegie Hall audience. But she has some obstacles. With a matter of fact voice (not unlike an older Clementine) she depicts her life as an only child, living with her hard working mother who is the State Comptroller and her quirky father, who has diplomas hanging in the living room for online courses he took, from airplane flying to being a chef.
Zoe seems to accept dad's be...more
Misty
CHARMING! Surpassed all expectations!

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 needs is a baby grand so she can start her lessons, and then she'll be well on her way to Carnegie Hall. But when Dad ventures to the music store and ends up with a wheezy organ instead of a piano, Zoe's dreams hit a sour note. Learning the organ versions of old TV theme songs just isn't the same as masteri...more
Regina
Jul 24, 2009 Regina rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Regina by: 2010 Children's Sequoyah Masterlist
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
Lilly
I waited three weeks to buy this book at my school's book fair.

Yeah, I know. Overly-sentimental, "Oh The Memories" intro. But, seriously. I waited and saved to get this book.

I'm a pianist; piano and music are my life, and I don't mean that in "I'm So Emo, I'm Going to Marry Gerard Way" kind of manner- it's really all that matters to me. However, there's not a lot of teenagers who are as into music as I am, and see it as anything more than background noise.

I adored this book. I read it to shreds,...more
Alyssa Bloedow
The theme of this book is frustration, drama, jealousy, and happiness. In the beginning, a 10 year old girl named Zoe Elias. Zoe's best friend soon abandon's her because she found a new best friend. Zoe's old friend gets a grand piano for a birthday present and Zoe gets very jealous.After all of that happens, Zoe had realized that the piano lesson's she had been taking were somewhat working. A while after she had been taking her lesson's a boy that is in her grade had started to come over to her...more
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This was from the About Me section at Linda Urban's website.


I was born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in a suburban house that looked like all the others on my street. Sometimes I liked that sameness. It made me feel normal, when I worried I wasn’t.

Other times, though, I wanted to be different — to shine, to have people see me as special. I tried ballet dancing and singing and playing musical in...more
More about Linda Urban...
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“Never trust an exclamation point.” 13 people liked it
“I told Dad about yesterday...I told him how I made all those mistakes.
'But you kept on playing?' Dad said. His eyes got wide when he said it. I could tell he was proud.
'Everybody does,' I said. 'You can't just get up and walk away every time you mess up. You'd never get anywhere.”
12 people liked it
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