A crooked kind of perfect

The title of Linda Urban's debut novel is pretty much perfect: the novel is a charming story about ten-year-old Zoe who yearns to play the piano because it's an elegant, sophisticated instrument--what she gets instead is a Perfectone D-60 organ (a substitution which may well be the perfect metaphor for her life). Though she loves her parents, she wishes that her agoraphobic father might venture out more without getting lost, and that her work-driven mother might be a little more available. She also struggles to fit in, as her former best friend has just elected a new best friend to fill the spot.

There's so much to love about this little book as Zoe comes into her own. Her voice is fabulous--smart, off-beat, funny. Her parents are delightful (her father dances the samba to her organ pieces and fills the wall of their home with degrees from an online university; her mother is a master whiz at math and patterns). Altogether a delightful children's book.