Soul of the Band: Making the Cut (Book 1)

From the Award-Winning Author of The Bum Magnet Got a Right to Be Wrong and Worst Impressions a new novel for young adults of all ages. After years of living with her mothers mental illness Brandy Jackson gets a new start in a new town where she finds love frenemies a spot in an all-white high school marching band...and lots of trouble! Music-loving 16-year-old Brandy Jackson has had it up to here with they--the annoying voices inside her mothers head. She isolates herself from the dreaded schizophrenic episodes with Beethoven and her iPod. Her long-suppressed desire to learn music is squelched by the burden of mental illness at least until she arrives home from school to find her belongings on the DC streets and her mother vanished. Fortunately Aunt Charlie comes to her rescue and moves her to Mapleton Ohio where she begins a new life free of her troubled past-or so she thinks. Brandys plans to fly under the radar at school in order to conceal her familys shame are quashed when Jenny Lee her new next-door neighbor and a flutist recognizes Brandys musical obsession and urges her to join the all-white high school marching band. Brandy obliges and soon realizes shes traded her old troubles for new ones. Now she stands out like a chocolate chip floating in a sea of milk; she has less than three months to learn to play her dreaded tuba--her only ticket to earn a spot on the band; and a near kiss with the Queen Bs boyfriend lands her in triple trouble with the popular chick clique. But when another band members failed plot to get rid of his nemesis unexpectedly leaves Brandy in contention for the bands most coveted position the ensuing drama will give her the strength rise above her circumstances-or leave her paralyzed in the shame of her past.