Chance to Fly , livre ebook

ABRAMS BOOKS - Stroker Ali Stroker

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

122 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

A heartfelt middle-grade novel about a theater-loving girl who uses a wheelchair for mobility and her quest to defy expectations-and gravity-from Tony award-winning actress Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz Thirteen-year-old Nat Beacon loves a lot of things: her dog Warbucks, her best friend Chloe, and competing on her wheelchair racing team, the Zoomers, to name a few. But there's one thing she's absolutely OBSESSED with: MUSICALS! From Hamilton to Les Mis, there's not a cast album she hasn't memorized and belted along to. She's never actually been in a musical though, or even seen an actor who uses a wheelchair for mobility on stage. Would someone like Nat ever get cast? But when Nat's family moves from California to New Jersey, Nat stumbles upon auditions for a kids' production of Wicked, one of her favorite musicals ever! And she gets into the ensemble! The other cast members are super cool and inclusive (well, most of them)- especially Malik, the male lead and cutest boy Nat's ever seen. But when things go awry a week before opening night, will Nat be able to cast her fears and insecurities aside and "Defy Gravity" in every sense of the song title?

Informations

Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	13 avril 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781683358978
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0764€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Excerpts from the compositions For Good and Defying Gravity
From the Broadway musical Wicked
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Copyright 2003 Stephen Schwartz
All rights reserved. Used by permission of Grey Dog Music (ASCAP)
Excerpts from the book of the Broadway musical Wicked based on the novel by Gregory Maguire
By Winnie Holzman
Copyright 2008 Dooley Company Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved. Used by permission of Dooley Company Productions, Inc.
PUBLISHER S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the
Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4197-4393-1 eISBN 978-1-68335-897-8
Text copyright 2021 Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz
Book design by Marcie Lawrence
Published in 2021 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.
Amulet Books is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
ABRAMS The Art of Books 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007 abramsbooks.com
For every kid who has a dream, even if the odds are against you, don t ever stop finding ways to fly.
CHAPTER ONE
A House Is Not a Home
I FOUND OKLAHOMA! Nat screamed from the back seat of her family s Nissan Altima, jolting her dad awake from the passenger seat. She snapped a photo of the license plate.
That s a point, Natty baby, her mom said, drumming on the steering wheel.
Are you sure ? Nat replied, then burst into song. YOU RE DOING FINE, OKLAHOMA -
Her mom smirked at her through the rearview mirror. All right, hotshot.
The Beacon family was dominating the License Plate Game. They d been playing for six days straight, but with a twist-spotting plates from states where famous musicals were set got double the points. Nat s spotting of the Oklahoma plate had pushed her family s total score over thirty, and so, as they d discussed, they d reward themselves with dessert for dinner! Nat would definitely have to remind her parents about that.
Hon, you re drooling, Nat s mom said.
Me or Warbucks? Nat s dad asked groggily.
At the mention of his name, Warbucks leaped from Nat s lap into her dad s lap and back. Nat lowered the window so he could stick his big floppy head out, but the stench of manure filled the car. Warbucks wasn t the smartest of service dogs-he d flunked out when he couldn t retain commands past sit and get -but he was smart enough to hide from the smell of New Jersey meadowland. He plopped onto the floor, a Labradoodle fluff mountain beneath Nat s feet, and chewed his California Raisin toy. Like Nat, he was forever loyal to his home state.
With the window back up, the Beach Boys played on full blast. Nat groaned as her dad broke into a shoulder shimmy. Oh, come on, Natty! What are you ashamed of? It s just us!
It wasn t that she was ashamed. It was that the song, California Girls, was flooding her with all the feels. It made her think of the summers she d spent back home, at the beach with her best friend and soul sister, Chloe, as they navigated the sand like action heroes. As they read juicy teen celebrity buzz in Popstar! magazine and took every love quiz under the sun. She knew the song was supposed to be about hot girls, the kind who splash around in the shallow water and attract random photoshoots, not misfits who attract unnecessary lifeguard rescues. But still. They were California girls. It was the start of summer. The lyrics made her homesick.
Hamilton , anyone? Nat piped up.
Now it was her mom who groaned.
Nat protested, How else am I going to prepare for my future groundbreaking performance as Eliza Schuyler Hamilton?
In their big cross-country move, they d listened to the entire Broadway cast recording, and the Mixtape , and the deleted songs-twice per day, every day. When Nat sang along, she d sink into Eliza s shoes. Imagine Eliza s problems were her own and that her own problems were gone. Time would melt into meters of music. And when the soundtrack was complete, Nat would snap back into herself, already craving another escape.
Like now.
Nat s mom exhaled like a deflating balloon. Sweetie, can we just relax for a little? When you belt along, the energy becomes very . . . charged.
What if I don t belt? What if I use my head voice, and we listen to, like, Les Miz or Phantom ?
Natalie, we don t have that much longer to go.
Pleeeease! I should practice. One day, the perfect show for me is going to come along.
Maaaybe , her mom said with so much doubt that she might as well have said Never. She tried to clarify, I just have no idea how theater works and how it would work for you . . .
When I was your age, I also had big dreams, her dad cut in. I was determined to be the next Michael Jordan!
Nat couldn t help but take that as an insult. I don t want to be the next anyone , she explained. I want people to want to be the next me.
Her dad forced a smile. Well, good news. You ve had years of racing training, and it s just starting to pay off.
On the track, you shine, her mom added. Don t you think so, Jeff?
I know so. A star in the making.
Nat wasn t delusional. She understood why her dreams of becoming an actress made her parents shut down-they loved her and didn t want to see her get hurt. At the end of the day, who would give a kid like her a shot? With all the talented girls out there, who would look outside the box and choose her? So far, no one. But that was because Nat had never auditioned for a play before. She d gotten to sing in her school s chorus concerts, but there she wasn t stepping into a character s shoes and making unique acting choices or anything. Her job was to blend.
Anyway, I m gonna close my eyes again, Nat s dad went on. So if you must listen to musical theater, maybe use your headphones?
Nat would have agreed, but her mom had unknowingly put her headphones through the laundry. One ear sounded tinny, and the other sounded like the artist was singing underwater.
She hadn t told her parents yet. She didn t need them thinking she was more dependent than they already thought she was.
Why don t you look for a Maine license plate? Nat s mom suggested. Or South Carolina? Isn t there a musical that takes place in the Carolinas?
Are you thinking of Caroline, or Change ? Nat asked. Because that takes place in Louisiana.
Louisiana, then.
Nat sighed, then rested her temple on the car door. She gazed out the window at the blur of trees-maybe pine, definitely not palm-as an NPR ad for Metamucil fiber supplements depressingly droned on the radio. She imagined the ad playing out like one of her favorite scenes from Annie - with the radio show and the Boylan Sisters and the APPLAUSE sign cueing the audience to cheer-and that made listening more bearable.
Annie had been Nat s introduction to musicals. Chloe s parents had taken them to see a community theater production of it when they were seven. Chloe had thought the show was okay slash kind of boring. But Nat had been mesmerized. She d teared up when the orphans sang about their fantasy parents during Maybe. She d felt her stomach coil when Miss Hannigan, the evil head of the orphanage, sang Little Girls. And then, at the end, when Annie got adopted, Nat had to hug herself to contain her happiness. After that, Nat wanted to learn about every musical there was.
Before Nat could choose between a nap and finding a Louisiana license plate, a call from Chloe Suarez erupted through the speakers. Nat cried out to her as if they hadn t spoken in a decade. CHLOEEEEEE?
Nat? Omigod, I have to tell you the most embarrassing thing. I was in CVS, buying laxative gummies-
You re on speaker, Chloe. Sorry-my Bluetooth is still connected.
Chloe paused, her silence echoing around the car.
Hi, Chlo-Chlo , Nat s mom and dad spoke-sang together.
Nat s eyes bulged. She and Chloe were used to her parents being involved , but that didn t mean they wanted to blab about embarrassing stuff with them. They were thirteen, not nine. Chloe gulped, clearly feeling the same. Hi, Mandy. Hi, Jeff. Hi, Warbucks. Warbucks began unhelpfully licking the dashboard, making Chloe s voice cut in and out. So, how-longer till-get there?
We ve got about forty minutes, Nat s mom replied.
Forty minutes?! Nat asked, her head spinning.
Are you excited? Chloe asked. You sound excited.
Yes, Nat s parents said.
No, Nat overlapped.
Cooooool, Chloe said. Well, your new job as an actionary sounds like a good opportunity, Mandy.
It s called an actuary , Nat corrected. And it s just hard math.
It s not just hard math, Nat s mom protested. I also measure risk. If you re looking for someone to tell you the worst-case scenario, I m your gal!
Ha! Okay! Chloe said.
Nat wished Chloe wasn t so polite to her parents. If the roles were reversed and Chloe s parents were whisking her away across the country for forever, all so her mom could take on the most uncreative job in the universe, Nat would stand up for her best friend, not compliment Chloe s mom and then mistake Chloe s obvious dread for excitement.
I think this is the longest we ve ever been separate, Nat blurted, cutting her dad off as he excitedly explained his new job as the athletics director at Saddle Stream High School.
I think so, too, Chloe said.
Nat felt a lump i