Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star
Author(s): Randy Powell
Grady is skateboarding toward a major decision
No longer able to live with his grandmother, fifteen-year-old Grady Grennan has to find a new address. one option is to move in with his mentally disabled half brother, Louie, in Seattle. But that poses a problem: Louie's adoptive mother, Vickie, and Grady are about as compatible as Mozart and heavy metal.
Nevertheless, Grady's testing the waters. He's in Seattle for a concert tribute to his and Louie's mother, a grunge rock icon who died three years ago. Grady has been invited to speak at the tribute, but what is he supposed to say to thousands of adoring fans about a mother who abandoned her sons in favor of a musical career?
Both humorous and deeply moving, Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star poses challenging, provocative questions to all sorts of readers -- cynics, liberals, slackers, and rock stars included.
Review(s):
“Grady Grennan-the likable fifteen-year-old son of Janis Joplin-like rock star Debbie Grennan, who abandoned him when he was seven and died from choking after overdosing on drugs and alcohol-relates what happens when he is invited to speak at a tribute in Seattle for his celebrity mother...A moving and memorable story with sharply etched characters.” —School Library Journal
“Powell poses some provocative questions in this unglamorized, introspective look at the fringes of the rock-star scene. Grady, the 15-year-old narrator, returns to his hometown of Seattle three years after the death of his mother, famous hard-rocker Debbie Grennan, to speak at a concert performed in her memory. While there, he stays with his mentally handicapped half-brother, Louie, and Louie's born-again-Christian family. The half-brothers' artless conversations allow Grady time to reflect on Debbie's rise to fame as well as her self-destructive behavior.” —Starred / Publishers Weekly
“Randy Powell never gives in to cheap thrills or pronouncements...Everything and everyone is written with concentrated intelligence and affection.” —Hungry Mind Review
American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults, American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults (2000), Long-listed ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2000), ALA Best Books for Young Adults
ISBN: 9780374479688