Somebody Everybody Listens To - Softcover

Supplee, Suzanne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142418862 ISBN 13: 9780142418864

Publisher: Speak, 2011

Synopsis

Retta Lee Jones is blessed with a beautiful voice and has big dreams of leaving her tiny Tennessee hometown. So with a beaten-down car, a pocketful of hard-earned waitressing money, and stars in her eyes, Retta sets out to make it big in Nashville. But the road to success isn't a smooth one, and a girl's gotta figure out who she can trust in a town full of showmen and scammers. Soon Retta begins to have doubts: Can she make her mark and still stay true to herself?

About this title

About the Author:

Suzanne Supplee, originally from Tennessee, lives in Maryland and works as a writer and teacher. She visited Ireland on her own many years ago and highly recommends traveling solo, at least once in a lifetime. Her favorite hobbies are reading and chasing her two Jack Russell terriers. Suzanne is married and has three daughters, Cassie, Flannery, and Elsbeth.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 7 Up–You don't have to be a fan of country music to fall in love with Retta Lee Jones and her inspiring quest to be a country singer. Supplee avoids the oversentimental star-crush often typical of wannabe stories by creating honest characters one might meet in any hometown: anxious parents, stranger turned guardian angel, boy-next-door, fun best friend, young men and women chasing dreams. After graduating high school, Retta Lee stakes everything she has on moving to Nashville to break into the music business. Each step forward, however, seems to take her two steps back–back toward a sad family life and the boy she had a crush. Moving forward toward her dream becomes elusive after her fragile support system falls apart through no fault of her own. But Retta Lee doesn't give up. She reminds herself of the country artists she's admired all her life and takes inspiration from their trials and tribulations and eventual success. Supplee opens each well-paced chapter with a brief profile of popular singers, providing continuity and interesting tidbits about the royals of country music. Retta Lee's innate kindheartedness; her aspirations in a highly competitive field, always tempered with good old commonsense; and her burgeoning talent make her an immensely likable and believable character who steadfastly follows her dreams in a world often inured to such high hopes.Roxanne Myers Spencer, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Speak
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0142418862
• ISBN 13: 9780142418864
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 245