10 Best Young Adult Music Books to Experience Musicians' Passion
Alright folks, grab those headphones and tune into the rhythm of these thrilling tales. The world of music isn't just about hitting the right notes—it's an arena of raw passion, dizzying triumphs, crushing failures, and a lifetime's worth of stories. Close your eyes, pick one of these young adult music novels and dive into the whirlwind world of the musicians - a journey filled with excitement, drama, heartbreak and absolute joy. Phew!
Whether you're an aspiring musician, a dedicated fan, or just love a great story, these books will hit your emotions as powerfully as a drum solo. They delve into the realities of the music industry, the ins and outs of forming a band, the ups and downs of tour life, and the swirling emotions of writing a hit song. But they're not all treble and clef, expect to navigate through friendship, love, identity, and dreams because, let's face it, music is life.
Each novel is a heartfelt symphony, weaving a captivating story that resonates deeply, regardless of your musical know-how. So, are you ready to embark on this vibrant, high-octane symphony of books where you'll almost hear the chords and melodies through the pages? Turn the volume up, it's reading time!
『Full Flight』
Everyone else in the tiny town of Enfield, Texas, calls fall football season, but for the forty-three members of the Fighting Enfield Marching Band, it’s contest season. And for new saxophonist Anna James, it’s her first chance to prove herself as the great musician she’s trying hard to be. When she’s assigned a duet with mellophone player Weston Ryan, the boy her small-minded town thinks of as nothing but trouble, she’s equal parts thrilled and intimidated. But as he helps her with the duet, and she sees the smile he seems to save just for her, she can’t help but feel like she’s helping him with something too. When her strict parents find out she’s been secretly seeing him and keep them apart, Anna and Weston learn what it truly means to fight for something they love. With the marching contest nearing and the two falling hard for one another, the unthinkable happens, and Anna is left grappling for a way forward without Weston. Ashley Schumacher’s Full Flight is about how first love shapes us—even after it’s gone.
Author | Ashley Schumacher |
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Price | $11.99 |
Publisher | Wednesday Books |
Release Date | Feb 22, 2022 |
Source | Google Books |
『When We Were Infinite』
Knowing that the friendships she depends on will change when her parents split up, Beth witnesses a private act of violence in her crush's home before forging a pact with her friends to offer support in the face of a life-altering decision. With her family splintered and her future a question mark, Beth's friends Grace Nakamura, Brandon Lin, Sunny Chen, and Jason Tsou are all she has. She's certain she'll never be able to tell Jason how she really feels about him, so friendship will have to be enough. Then Beth witnesses a private act of violence in Jason's home, and the whole group is shaken. The group makes a pact to protect Jason, no matter the sacrifice. When their fierce loyalty isn't enough to stop Jason from making a life-altering choice, Beth must decide how far she is willing to go for him and how much of herself she is willing to give up.
Author | Kelly Loy Gilbert |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Release Date | Apr 19, 2022 |
Source | Google Books |
『Being Friends with Boys』
From the author of "Pure" and "The Summer of Firsts and Lasts" comes a friendship story with one girl, several boys, and lots of complications.
Author | Terra Elan McVoy |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Release Date | Apr 23, 2013 |
Source | Google Books |
『Dirty Little Secret』
Jennifer Echols returns with Dirty Little Secret, a romantic drama that follows two sisters as they navigate the passions, heartbreaks, and intrigue.
Author | Jennifer Echols |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Release Date | Apr 22, 2014 |
Source | Google Books |
『Sing No Evil』
Twenty-something guitarist Aksel stutters when he sings, and the latest reviews say he has the voice of a crow with throat plague. That’s not a compliment, even for the avant-garde music his band Perkeros plays. Aksel is having a hard time keeping the band together, stopping his girlfriend from kicking him out, and not getting eaten by his drummer (who happens to be a cranky brown bear). There are also the rival bands that Perkeros find themselves in battle with to save the city from supernatural forces set loose by ancient music. The key to it all could be in the music Aksel hears in his dreams—if it doesn’t drive him mad first. With a visual soundtrack that blasts off the page, Sing No Evil is a wild ride through otherworldly dangers and the power of pure rock’n’roll.
Author | JP Ahonen/KP Alare |
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Price | $14.36 |
Publisher | Abrams |
Release Date | Sep 30, 2014 |
Source | Google Books |
『Better Than the Movies』
Michael, to whom Liz Buxbaum gave her heart long ago, has returned but to get his attention and, perhaps, a prom date she must scheme with her nemesis Wes, her next-door neighbor.
Author | Lynn Painter |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Release Date | Jul 26, 2022 |
Source | Google Books |
『Summer Bird Blue』
“A lyrical novel about grief, love, and finding oneself in the wake of a tragic loss.” —Bustle “Gorgeous prose and heartbreaking storytelling.” —Paste Magazine “Grabs your heart and won’t let go.” —Book Riot A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year Three starred reviews for this stunning novel about a mixed-race teen who struggles to find her way back to her love of music in the wake of her sister’s death, from the author of the William C. Morris Award finalist Starfish. Rumi Seto spends a lot of time worrying she doesn’t have the answers to everything. What to eat, where to go, whom to love. But there is one thing she is absolutely sure of—she wants to spend the rest of her life writing music with her younger sister, Lea. Then Lea dies in a car accident, and her mother sends her away to live with her aunt in Hawaii while she deals with her own grief. Now thousands of miles from home, Rumi struggles to navigate the loss of her sister, being abandoned by her mother, and the absence of music in her life. With the help of the “boys next door”—a teenage surfer named Kai, who smiles too much and doesn’t take anything seriously, and an eighty-year-old named George Watanabe, who succumbed to his own grief years ago—Rumi attempts to find her way back to her music, to write the song she and Lea never had the chance to finish. Aching, powerful, and unflinchingly honest, Summer Bird Blue explores big truths about insurmountable grief, unconditional love, and how to forgive even when it feels impossible.
Author | Akemi Dawn Bowman |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
Release Date | Mar 10, 2020 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Carnival at Bray』
ALA 2015 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults Chicago Weekly Best Books of 2014 A Michael L. Printz Honor Award Winner Winner, 2014 Helen Sheehan YA Book Prize Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2014 Finalist, William C. Morris Award It's 1993, and Generation X pulses to the beat of Kurt Cobain and the grunge movement. Sixteen-year-old Maggie Lynch is uprooted from big-city Chicago to a windswept town on the Irish Sea. Surviving on care packages of Spin magazine and Twizzlers from her rocker uncle Kevin, she wonders if she'll ever find her place in this new world. When first love and sudden death simultaneously strike, a naive but determined Maggie embarks on a forbidden pilgrimage that will take her to a seedy part of Dublin and on to a life- altering night in Rome to fulfill a dying wish. Through it all, Maggie discovers an untapped inner strength to do the most difficult but rewarding thing of all, live. The Carnival at Bray is an evocative ode to the Smells Like Teen Spirit Generation and a heartfelt exploration of tragedy, first love, and the transformative power of music. The book won the 2014 Helen Sheehan YA Book Prize.
Author | Jessie Ann Foley |
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Price | $8.99 |
Publisher | Elephant Rock Books |
Release Date | Oct 01, 2014 |
Source | Google Books |
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Price | unknown |
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Release Date | |
Source | Google Books |
『Hidden Voices』
While studying under Vivaldi, three girls in a Venice orphanage forge their own notions of love in a sensuous, engrossing novel told in three narrative voices. It is a longing and search for love that motivates three girls living in the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage renowned for its extraordinary musical program. But for Rosalba, Anetta, and Luisa, the love they seek is not where they expect to find it. Set in the early 1700s in the heart of Venice, this remarkable novel deftly weaves the history of Antonio Vivaldi’s early musical career into the lives of three young women who excel in voice and instrument. Under the composer’s tutelage and care, the orphans find expression, sustenance, and passion. But can the sheltered life of the orphanage prepare them for the unthinkable dangers outside its walls?
Author | Pat Lowery Collins |
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Price | $9.99 |
Publisher | Candlewick Press |
Release Date | Nov 08, 2011 |
Source | Google Books |
Time to pump up the volume, folks! You've just had a whirlwind tour of the young adult literary scene's finest offerings in music. From raw garage beginnings to sold-out stadium finales, you've rubbed shoulders with the young trailblazers who pluck, strum, pound, and blow their own unique path to stardom. These vivid tales show how music can not just shape lives, but literally rock worlds. You've lived the rollercoaster ups and desperate downs, all bound by the pulse of melody, rhythm, and harmony. Each book offers more than a beat-drenched narrative; they provide an immersive soundtrack to our own life experiences. Dancing in the silent spaces between notes, every story celebrates the transformative power of music as expressed through youth; its angst, its uncertainty, its resilience, its first blush of love, and the enduring echo of heartbreak. I mean, who needs a streaming subscription when you've got these masters of YA musical prose, right? Go ahead, drop the needle on these chart-toppers and let them play out loud in your imagination!
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