Mary Bowman-Kruhm, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
Zoe Elias dreams of wearing a tiara for her piano recital at Carnegie Hall but gamely realigns her dreams when her father, who suffers from probable social anxiety disorder, becomes nervous in a mall and, instead of a piano, purchases a Perfectone D-60 organ with six months of free lessons. Urban’s writing from inside a young girl’s head is respectful of parental foibles while telling Zoë’s story about the pain of a workaholic mother, a father with unique phobias, a best friend whose shallow behavior is obvious to the reader if not immediately to Zoe, and a boy whose friendship she eventually appreciates. At a Fry reading level of grades four through five, this book will appeal to reluctant and older readers who enjoy a story told with humor and zest. Example: Mom arrives home late and is starved but finds Dad has not begun cooking. “‘Wing Ping Linguini?’ asks Dad.” That’s his favorite BBQ-Chinese-Italian restaurant. “The food isn’t good, but they deliver” (p. 34). 2007, Harcourt Children’s Books, $16.00. Ages 8 to 12.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2007 (Vol. 75, No. 17))
All ten-year-old Zoe Elias has ever wanted is a baby grand so that she can become a star who dazzles Carnegie Hall. She doesn't know how to play, but that's a minor stumbling block. What she gets instead is an old, wheezy organ, a gift from her well-meaning, agoraphobic dad. While workaholic mom is hardly ever home, Zoe resigns herself to learning to play the instrument, all the while encouraged by her skittish father and a newfound supportive pal. Wouldn't you know that she turns out to be great at it and goes on to win in competition? There's a lot of knowing, child-friendly humor here, not the least provided by Zoe's hoot of an organ instructor. Readers should enjoy the fast-paced, brief chapters, silliness and tongue-in-cheek first-person narration. The author doesn't pull out all the stops, and the ending is pat, but this is still a satisfying read. 2007, Harcourt, 224p, $16.00. Category: Fiction. Ages 9 to 12. © 2007 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Karen Coats (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, February 2008 (Vol. 61, No. 6))
Zoe Elias dreams of being a world-famous piano player, but her real life isn’t so promising. Her father is a borderline agoraphobic who panics whenever he has to leave the house, and her mother is a workaholic who likes nothing better than a good budget crisis that keeps her at the office crunching numbers. She manages to get her father to agree to buy her a piano, but a trip to the mall proves too much for him, and he’s seduced into buying a Perfectone D-60 organ with “luxuriously realistic walnut veneer” instead, which comes with free lessons and “Twenty-four (24!) rhythm styles” but lacks the elegance and grace of Zoe’s imagined piano. While ten-year-old Zoe has a love/hate relationship with the organ, her dream of piano-prodigy glory never falters, since she maintains that a piano experience would be different, i.e., she would love practicing, she would sound better, she could play classical music rather than theme songs from ’70s TV shows, etc. Short, funny chapters full of exaggeration and exasperation provide lots of laughs and keep the plot chugging along. Secondary character Wheeler Diggs, a rough and rowdy classmate who follows Zoe home and soon becomes a fixture in her family’s kitchen helping her dad with his endless pursuit of baking classes from Living Room University, is refreshingly charming and original. Readers with their own dreams, weird obsessions, and quirky hobbies will be heartened by the message that a few bumps, compromises, and sour notes along the way can pay off in a major key Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2007, Harcourt, 213p., $16.00. Grades 4-7.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2008)
Ten-year-old Zoe dreams of becoming a famous piano prodigy. Instead of a piano, though, her father brings home a Perfectone D-60 organ. Zoe's witty voice narrates the book's short chapters. Readers will identify with Zoe's insecurities, laugh at her quirky family, and feel her pride in this winning story about family, friendship, self-confidence, and dreams come (realistically) true. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2007, Harcourt, 211pp, 16.00. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.