Befiddled

by Pedro De Alcantara

Becky Cohen has a rough life. She’s an outsider everywhere she shunned and mocked at school, at her violin lessons, and at home by her disapproving mother. Her only true friend is her brilliant little brother, newspaper-loving Benjy. She dreams of becoming a great violinist, but at the group lessons she’s forced to take at the Y, Becky panics and plays badly. Then Becky meets Mr. Freeman, her building’s handyman. He has a lot to teach her about becoming a musician, and being a friend. Gradually, Becky begins speaking her mind more often, and finds that people are actually listening. Then Mr. Freeman tells Becky about a local performing arts high school’s scholarship contest. With the lessons learned from Mr. Freeman and Benjy, can Becky overcome her fears and play what’s in her heart?

Genres: Fiction

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 8, 2005

About the author

My books include the children's novels "Befiddled" and "Backtracked" and works of non-fiction for adults, including "Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique" and "The Alexander Technique: A Skill for Life" (published by Crowood). I travel the world giving seminars and master classes for all creative people. I'm currently finishing two new books -- a new novel for young readers titled "The Divine Computer" and a book for musicians titled "Integrated Practice." I'm also putting together a selection of my original improvisations and compositions for performance and recording.

Reviews

[Shreeja Das · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly heart moving and musical story. It is a calm but beautiful novel.

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. I liked the main characters development throughout the story.

[Catherine Mayo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Initial chapters reveal Becky’s utterly dismal life – no friends, no parental support, vicious attacks by her teacher, her class mates, such total misunderstanding of her passion to play the violin, so little recognition or reward for the three hours a day she spends practising, such self loathing, so little joy in her practice, so much exaggeration and caricature in the description of her enemies, written with so little humour or humanity, I can’t see why she and her readers don’t just go and cut their throats.
The music teacher’s behaviour is ridiculous and the rest of her violin class are too unpleasantly two dimensional to be true.
Her younger brother Benjy is the one bright hope in her life and the carrot of a happy ending is lurking somewhere, but I have no real desire to chase after it.

[Conan Tigard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is tough when no one listens to you. It is tough when you get so nervous in front of people that you always choke under pressure. It is tough when you don't have a best friend. It is tough being Becky Cohen. Becky is a very talented violin player, but has a meek personality that causes her not be be noticed, and if she is noticed, it isn't for something good.

In Befiddled, Becky struggles to overcome her issues and become the great musician she knows she can be. This being the first published novel by Pedro de Alcantara, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the wonderful flow of the story. I absolutely loved the characters and enjoyed the pacing.

Overall, I found Befiddled to be a wonderful story that can be enjoyed by all ages of readers, not just young adults. I look forward to more novels written by Pedro de Alcantara.

I rated this book an 8½ out of 10.

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine. i don't think it's one i'm going to remember a few months down the road. it had these really annoying newspaper clips which i never read the whole way through. but it has a happy ending.

[Rebecca Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story on how a girl met a man who helped her out of her difficult situation after years of torment by her classmates and teachers, helping her to become a great musician.

[Adrianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you lack self-esteem life can beat you down. Through the fun and encouraging help from a neighbor changes are made, for the better. Determination and overcoming criticism help!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid read, actually debating if I want to keep it or not. It's super quick but there was a lot of good in it.

[Althea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really fun young adult book.