Dear Ms. Ferrara,
Before attending the giant music magnet school in Newburyport, Connecticut, awkward fifteen-year-old Jason Cervantes’ primary social outlet had been the Prickly Pears, a gang of geriatric, guitar-picking, banjo-plucking virtuosos in ultra rural Redridge, Texas. That’s about to change.
Arriving at his new school, Jason immediately meets manic gymnast Sarah Elliot. Though tiny, she’s tough as nails, and straightaway rescues him from confrontation with a gorillaman. Impressed by each other’s talents, they teeter on the brink of love. But Sarah is too young and is terrified by her emotions. She makes Jason into the big brother she never had. Then she decides he should date her former student mentor Elizabeth Franklin, the school’s most talented singer.
When Jason becomes Elizabeth’s music theory study partner he notices the signs of abuse. Music is her only escape. He takes her under his wing (and into his bedroom), and convinces her to audition for the nationally televised vocal competition Sing Out! The trio’s convoluted friendship grows as they prepare for the show. At their brink of triumph, Elizabeth’s world explodes into violence. All they have left is their music and each other.
My 87,000 word contemporary young adult novel Sing Out!’s melancholy tone is similar to Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I believe it has crossover appeal to fans of Pitch Perfect. The novel’s peculiar first person dialog-based narrative style, terse, unadorned, and direct, reflects Jason’s mixed Hispanic-American upbringing in tightlipped and dry southwestern Texas.
I am the married father of two teenaged musicians, both strong girls, and a PhD candidate in Climate Science at Penn State. Thank you for your consideration.
Warmest regards,
Rob Ceres