Madonna

I have a friend named Madonna. She is awesome. When I was living with my buddy Nancy, a Roman Catholic for 64 years, she yelled at me one day when she came home to find that I, an American Baptist, had received a call from The Madonna on our answering machine. All those years of devout RC faith and I am the one who gets the call. Well, what can ya do?

My friend Madonna is actually a Baptist, too, but not the American kind. I think she's an indie.

Ahem.

While I was reading Take a Bow, I couldn't get this song out of my head, and so you were treated to this tale of two, now three Madonnas.

I don't know why, but I thought this book was about an American Idol-esque contest. It isn't at all. It's a four person POV novel about kids attending the most impressive high school for the performing arts in NYC.

Carter: a child star who now works on soaps

Sophie: a girl who was a big fish in a small pond and is determined to stop at nothing to make it big

Emme: Sophie's sidekick but more than that, she is a very talented composer and musician

Ethan: Emme's bandmate, also a very talented composer and musican (in my opinion he's moody and too needy, but he comes across as a hero in the book)

The book follows them through their four years of school and deals with issues like love, friendship and finding your true dream. I liked the book and it will be an easy one to recommend to tweens and younger teens who are looking for something light.