Five Six Seven Nate Mixed Floor Display Prepack 12 (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
Having landed a job on Broadway, thirteen-year-old Nate Foster leaves home to live with his aunt in New York. He’s living his dream as a member of the ensemble and the understudy of the title role for “E.T.: The Musical.” But you seldom get to control your dreams. For instance, there you are with a crowd of child actors and their ambitious parents singing a solo when your voice cracks, and you discover that you are not the first understudy for E.T., and the director thinks your name is Jake. There is a bright spot, Nate has a secret admirer who sends him presents and notes. He thinks he knows who she is, but doesn’t quite understand why he got a bottle of ketchup. Nevertheless, the show must go on and Nate’s persistence pays off in the end. What is charm? It's elusive, it's recognizable, it's often used as a word to say something is terribly pleasing but not quite -- serious. Not quite -- enough. Not worthy of a place at the Captain's Table, if captains still have tables.Tim Federle's Five, Six, Seven NATE!, his sequel to BETTER NATE THAN EVER, has charm, and lots of it, but I want to expand the meaning of the word here, make it into a verb. This book charmed me. But it didn't charm me to the extent that I couldn't see that Federle was giving us a book that has much more than charm on its mind. A stage-struck, nascently gay kid from Pennsylvania somehow, in events that are first laid out in the first book, gets himself cast in a Broadway musical version of E.T. Charming. Sweet. Dear.But for a book that seems to be about fantasy, 5-6-7 etc is also, not so secretly, about authenticity, and grief, and misunderstanding, and sudden comprehensions of life and who you and others might be within it . It is, appropriately, the story of an alien (Nate) who finds a family (the world of Broadway) and thrives there. Nate doesn't go home at the end -- but you don't want him to.Federle, a Broadway performer, himself, and a coach of kid actors knows this world cold, so you trust him, and know that every thing he's telling you is the truth. He also manages to inhabit the voice and spirit of a 13-year-old, and how to inflect with just enough wisdom so that it still feels real. No. More than real. Because that's what wonderful writing can do. And this is a wonderfully written book, the work of an artist. With charm.I can't resist quoting. So here's a few gems, some of which moved me to tears, they were just so right, so clearly won and gathered from life."Kids like me always know about hidden stairwells ...""When you've had a whole life of getting picked last, you end up playing into it. I'll never be fastest, I'll never be first, and when you realize you'll never be first, the best thing you can do is set yourself up to be last. That way you're the most at SOMETHING. The ultimate. The pinnacle, or the least. I'd rather hang out in the hallway. I'd rather be on the end than in the middle. When you're on "the end", you're always closer to the metaphorical bathroom, anyway.""Jordan giggles the way rich kids do, with extra consonants."I'm only stopping at three because three is, somehow, the blessed number. And because I want you to experience NATE for yourself.
What do You think about Five Six Seven Nate Mixed Floor Display Prepack 12 (2014)?
Read it all in one day. Charming and hilarious. Great book for theatre nerds (and anyone).
—pineas
Just as funny and sweet as the first with lots of E.T.: The Musical!
—Jdog
This sequel is every bit as wonderful as the first book!
—GeminiX2
Not as good as the first, but still very cute.
—frostfleur
