Illustration By Lori McElrath-Eslick
Pub Date: Spring 2009
Price: $15.95
Jacketed Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-934813-04-4
Page Count: 180
Ages 12+
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SEATTLE BLUES
by Michael Wenberg
The summer of 1969 starts off badly for 13-year-old Maya. Her mother has sent her to Seattle to stay with the grandmother she's never met; her father is reported MIA in the jungles of Vietnam; and angry Maya's determined to get back home, even if it means running away. But slowly Maya begins to adjust, first befriending an autistic boy-and piano prodigy—living next door, and getting her grandmother to adopt a cat they name Harry S. Truman. When Maya finds a trombone in the attic, she's mesmerized. She learns to play as her grandmother gradually unravels details of her past: Maya's grandfather was a famous jazz trombone player who died in a car crash, and her grandmother was once a top jazz singer—who now only sings in church. After saving an elderly man from a riot, Maya adjusts to the prospect of life without her father, helps to mend her mom's relationship with her grandmother, and takes the first steps to becoming an accomplished musician.
Read What Writers Are Saying About Seattle Blues:
"Michael Wenberg's story plays like a great song, lyrical, heart felt, and full of character. I was swept away by Seattle Blues."
—Patrick Carman, author of The New York Times
best-selling Land of Elyon series
"Maya is the engaging heroine of this heartwarming story, and her discovery of Grandpa's old trombone opens the door for both her and the reader to glimpse some of the amazing people in jazz history, including the great trombonist, Melba Liston."
—Deborah Hopkinson, author, Into the Firestorm, A Novel of San Francisco, 1906, Up Before Daybreak and Shutting Out the Sky
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