Second Fiddle: Or How to Tell a Blackbird from a Sausage - Hardcover

Parkinson, Siobhan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1596431229 ISBN 13: 9781596431225

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, 2007

Synopsis

Aspiring writer Mags Clarke has just moved with her mother to a new area after the death of her father. Because her feet are usually firmly planted on the ground, Mags is cautious about befriending Gillian, whom she enchantingly finds playing the violin high up in the trees near her house. But the two get acquainted and embark on Project Manhunt: a plan to find Gillian's absent father, the only one who can send Gillian to an audition for a prestigious music school. Their strategies differ, making the road to true friendship a bumpy one. Second Fiddle is a thoughtfully crafted portrait of family and an unlikely friendship forged around a noble goal.

About this title

About the Author:

Siobhan Parkinson is the author of 11 previous novels, including Something Invisible, published by Roaring Brook Press, and Sisters...No Way!, winner of the Bisto Book of the Year Award, Ireland's prestigious award for children's literature. She lives in Dublin with her husband and son.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 6–8—Setting her story in rural Ireland, Parkinson develops the character of Margaret Rose Clarke through the use of first-person narrative. Mags, 12, speaks directly to readers, often explaining her use of dialogue and literary device, letting her audience in on the formation of the novel. ("I am plan-ning to be a writer when I grow up, and I am going to use this story to practice a few little phrases that might be a bit sophisticated." "I've thought a lot about intriguing openings....") Her father has recently died, causing her mother to sell their family home and move to the country. Wandering through the woods, she meets Gillian, a talented musician who has a chance to audition at the distinguished Yehudi Menuhin School of Music but who needs to find her father to ask for plane fare. Mags turns the search for Gillian's father into a mystery to be solved and attacks the problem with considerable energy. The contrast between these two characters, both missing their fathers in very different circumstances, as well as the relationships between Mags and Gillian and Mags and her mother, are artfully rendered, giving readers insight into the protagonist's heart and mind. She is smart, wise, outspoken, and not always as sure of herself as she appears on the outside. While the story has a definite ending, to which Mags adds a short chapter in an attempt to tie up all loose ends, it begs to continue.—Wendy Smith-D'Arezzo, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD
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About this edition

• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1596431229
• ISBN 13: 9781596431225
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192