Back material includes songs with lyrics and chords. An unexpected climax leads to a realistic, if not entirely satisfying, finish. Amato’s choice to have Minerva learn about her past via overheard arguments is also a lost opportunity for dramatic confrontation. Coworker Cassie (“A tall, gorgeous girl, a cross between a young Halle Berry and Rihanna, but totally natural”) is free of defects, and a revelation about her identity feels gratuitous. The results of Fips consumption can be pleasant (Fip eats a vending machine number and unleashes free chocolate bars) or dire (Fip eats the. Minerva’s loving (though clueless and conflicted) mother is well drawn, but the boys-and Minerva’s relationships with them-are too good to be true.

Even the plot device of Minerva and two male friends winning jobs to perform as Disney-like characters at birthday parties doesn’t go anywhere. Her books have been translated into foreign languages, optioned for television, and produced onstage. Opening on songwriter/musician Minerva Watson’s 16th birthday, when she is disappointed by not receiving the ukulele she has been openly craving, Amato’s story suffers from a lack of both tension and forward momentum. Longs cartoon jacket artrevealing one boy with a green bean hanging out of his nostril and another boy wearing a pair of underpants on his headoffers a cautionary clue as to the level of humor. Mary Amato is an award-winning childrens and YA book author, songwriter, and poet who lives in Maryland. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. In the elevator on their way up to the Get Happy office, the friends meet Hayes Martinelli, a boy from school, who ends up auditioning with them. Fin really wants to try to get a job being a Get Happy person, a children’s birthday party entertainer. Amato (Guitar Notes) delves into contemporary issues-living with a single parent, searching for an unknown father, finding unexpected romance-in this music-based novel set in the Chicago suburbs. Mary Amato Fiction For ages 12 and up Egmont, 2014 ISBN.

Get Happy by Mary Amato