Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star (Thorndike Young Adult)

Grady Grennan is finding out that it s pretty hard to get over your mother s death when you hear her voice every time you switch on the radio. Besides being Grady s mom, Debbie Grennan was also a famous heavy metal rock star. Since her drug overdose, Grady has tried to fill the hole she left in his life with everything from skateboarding to spending more time with his mentally disabled brother, Louie. But he can t quite seem to master the skateboard, and his time with Louie is often spoiled by the vicious arguments he has with Louie s stepmother, Vickie. Now the third anniversary of his mother s death is approaching, and Grady has been invited to a tribute concert in her honor. The concert weekend brings Grady s feelings to a head, and he must decide if he s going to be a real brother to Louie (and a part of Vickie s family) or remain just another long-haired slacker--the son of a dead rock star. Through Grady s conflicted feelings for Louie, author Randy Powell successfully captures the struggle between selfishness and generosity that constantly rages in the teen psyche. I can t imagine... not seeing Louie for a whole year. On the other hand, I can t imagine living in the same house with the guy, either. Grady s disagreements with Vickie over everything from music to religion crackle with a parental tension that teens will immediately find familiar and amusing. With the invention of Grady Grennan, Powell has given young adult literature a thoughtful new underdog--with the smart mouth of Rats Saw God s Steve York and the soul of the Outsiders Ponyboy Curtis. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

What if your parents were Janis Joplin or Kurt Cobain? - In the great recent tradition of jarringly real young adult fiction from the likes of Bruce Brooks and Chris Crutcher, comes Randy Powell. Winning kudos from such taciturn review sources as Kirkus and high praise from the American Library Association for his earlier works Dean Duffy, The Whistling Toilets, and Is Kissing a Girl Who Smokes Like Licking an Ashtray?, Powell delivers a page-turning speed read with well-developed and memorable characters that break and mend hearts, readers and each others . Grady Grennan is the son of Debbie Grennan, the titular dead rock star --- something along the lines of a cross between Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain. There s to be a tribute to dead and inattentive Mom and Grady is to have a role in that, but he s not sure he wants it. There s also his mentally retarded half-stepbrother (the relationships in this book are complicated and mostly dysfuctional, but honestly portrayed) named Louie, one of most endearing of the cast, and certainly the frankest, unsentimental portrayal of retardation this reader has yet seen. Vickie, the wife of Louie s father, is amazingly frustrating and is without doubt, one of the most interesting stepmothers since Cinderella s, her personal revelation in the closing pages of the book make it easily the most satisfying young adult book I ve read this year. Powell is quickly becoming a writer of note for this generation of young people. Highly recommended.

Another satisfying read from Powell - Hardcore skater Grady isn t thrilled with life after his rock-star mom overdosed a year ago, now he has to live with his grandmother who wants to tour the country with her new boyfriend in a Winnebago. Grady decides to visit other relatives, and his half-brother Louie in the pacific northwest...and to top it all off, mom s old band wants to get together and have a tribute concert and they want Grady to open the show with a few words...but all Grady can do is picture his absent mom and her final moments: choking on her own vomit. If you liked this book, try _Dean Duffy_, a great read about finding your little place in the world.

really good - at first i thought that i wasn t going to like this book.(sorry,sometimes i judge books by their covers). anyway when I started to read it,i couldn t put it down. Grady was . . .How can i say this, a different kind of character. You walk down the street and you see someone like grady and you think that their your average skater. never thinking that they might have fears and doubts just like the next person. this book is a must read.

Ree-tar-do - This book was great! The Author focused on giving his readers a vivid picture to look at as they are reading. The book was about the son of a great and loved rock star, and what he was going through since he found out he had to go to a tribute for his mother. How the people sorrounding the boy were trying to get him a stable home. The many arguments he had with his step-fathers wife, and how he struggled to get permision so his younger yet retarded brother could go. It s great, the ending was the only thing about the book I didn t like.

Well written and descibed - This book is a must. I loved it and finished it in a couple of days. It was inspiring and moving. A boy lost his mother because of music... how touching. I reccommend this book a lot.

Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star (Thorndike Young Adult)