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 choose something to play on her organ. The song choices had both of us laughing, especially as I explained some of the songs to Emily who had never heard of them.

Zoe learns that families don't have to be "cookie cutter perfect" to be full of love and laughter. She also makes an unexpected friend in Wheeler Diggs, who follows her home from school. He tugged at my heart as his story is revealed. I loved his character. There is a really cool lesson in not judging people, or making assumptions, that was brought out by their friendship. There is also a little bit of a "first love" aspect to their relationship, which is perfect for this age group.

Though A Crooked Kind of Perfect is written from Zoe's point of view, I think boys would also enjoy it because of the focus on Wheeler, and Zoe's father. I would highly recommend this book to kids, and parents. It's a heartwarming, charming story with lessons on love, friendship and family. The author's writing is friendly and whimsical, which made it a joy to read out loud