Spark

March 15, 2016
Quin hopes her drama-class senior project can save a local theater and change the course of history. "At Verona High, drama is for the shy." Quin and her classmates in Advanced Drama are "senior nobodies" who would prefer to blend into the scenery. But their teacher (who happens to be Quin's mom) wants to use their senior project to save the Avery, a local theater in their small town that was shuttered 70 years ago after a pair of star-crossed lovers, Emma and Nick, died on its stage. Reluctantly, the class begins to work on the project--a production of Anything Goes--with Quin as the director. At the same time, Quin learns that the Avery is somehow beginning to revive itself. She also discovers that her classmates Cass and Dylan are reliving the doomed romance of Emma and Nick. In Quin, Schindler has crafted a quick-witted, white protagonist who draws readers into her search for answers about her family's past as well as the Avery's. Scenes set in the past are rich with authentic voices and period detail, and Schindler's crisp prose flows easily between the past and the present. Even when it seems impossible for the show to go on, Schindler's imaginative story will have readers rooting for Quin and her classmates to "break a leg." A tale of love, family, and friendship, tailor-made for readers who believe in the mystery and magic of the theater. (Paranormal thriller. 13-18)

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June 1, 2016

Gr 6-10-Strange and powerful forces are at work in the skies over sleepy Verona, MO, a small town with a dying town square and some buried tragedies. High school senior Quin has been raised on the legend of the long-abandoned Avery Theater's glamorous past and tragic closure. When her adoptive mother, the high school drama teacher, forces the advanced drama class to stage a production of Anything Goes to raise money to revive the Avery, all hell breaks loose and past and present intertwine in a whirlwind of memories, strange happenings, romantic sparks, and flashes of memory. This urgent yet sweetly told tale of history, small-town tragedy, and magic lacks something as a theater story-rehearsals and performances are often skipped in favor of magical denouements and dramatic flashbacks-but the fast pace and slightly eerie writing are appealing. The first-person narrative allows readers to see the world through Quin's caring, wide-open eyes and loving perspective as she works hard to showcase her friends' latent talents and honor her town's history. VERDICT An innocent, hopeful, lightly magical romance, ideal for teens looking for "clean reads" and historical nostalgia.-Katya Schapiro, Brooklyn Public Library

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
Grades 8-12 High-school senior Quin, one of the unpopular drama geeks at Verona High, is suddenly made director of the senior class drama project: revitalizing the derelict Avery Theater by repeating its final production from 1947, Anything Goes, during which two star-crossed cast members died. Something in the skies over Verona indicates that now is the moment to add a happier chapter to the story, complete with two new lovers. Quin seems to be the only person who can see this convergence of circumstances, but can she make sure it happens? Rooted in magic realism, this sweet story faintly echoes Romeo and Juliet as it explores what it means to be a survivor, a bystander, and a member of a small community. Schindler's story casts a shimmering spell that links tragic historic and contemporary events in a small Missouri town. Tension mounts toward a satisfying but somewhat predictable end, but that won't stop this book from being handed quickly from reader to reader.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
A senior class project to reopen a rundown theater--closed since a 1947 tragedy involving star-crossed lovers--forces past and present love stories to converge. While the protagonists are written as seniors to facilitate the romance, the voice reads more like middle grade, and the kitschy magic lacks logic. However, theater lore and sympathetically drawn characters will attract readers.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)