Azar on Fire
Azar on Fire

Fourteen-year-old Azar Rossi’s first year of high school has mostly been silent, and intentionally so. After a bad case of colic as a baby, Azar’s vocal folds are shredded—full of nodules that give her a rasp the envy of a chain-smoking bullfrog. Her classmates might just think she’s quiet, but Azar is saving her voice for when it really counts and talking to her classmates is not medically advisable or even high on her list. When she hears about a local Battle of the Bands contest, it’s something she can’t resist. Azar loves music, loves songwriting, but with her vocal folds the way they are, there's no way she can sing her songs on stage. Then she hears lacrosse hottie, Ebenezer Lloyd Hollins the Fifth, aka Eben, singing from the locker room. She’s transfixed. He's just the person she needs. His voice + her lyrics = Battle of the Bands magic. But getting a band together means Azar has a lot of talking to do and new friends to make. For the chance to stand on stage with Eben it might all just be worth it.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up

Music-loving Azar's vocal cords are broken. So broken, in fact, that talking is excruciating, so she just doesn't. She doesn't answer questions in class, and she avoids every one of her peers besides her middle schooler cousin, Roya. One day, after a particularly stressful altercation in the halls, Azar scampers off to the janitor's closet to relieve stress in the way she always does: by playing music. Things go sideways, however, when her drumming destroys a thousand dollar's worth of cleaning supplies.

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