Band Nerd follows seventh grader Lucy Carver as she navigates her first year at an Arts school alongside the tensions that are happening in her home life. Lucy copes by hyper focusing on getting to First Chair Flute like she was at her old school in hopes that it would help return the rest of her life to balance. 

This book covered some very real and difficult topics, like alcoholism and divorce. The dad's drinking problems were much more on-page than I had anticipated from the description. I was glad to see Lucy have supportive teachers bringing her together at the end with her parents in counseling to talk through what was happening, and her parents taking accountability for the areas they should have supported Lucy along the way. My heart broke for the weight Lucy was carrying both at home and at school in trying to fit in. The story also touched on ways her peers were also trying to please their caregivers by choosing certain paths and interests.

I did find the artwork a bit inconsistent in detail level throughout the book. I couldn't tell a pattern on whether it was going in-and-out of focus alongside the emotional swings of Lucy's experience, but it did distract from the story page-over-page. 

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for providing an ARC for my review.