Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie is a different take on realistic fiction. Steven is just a regular 8th grade boy who enjoys drumming. The unexpected happened when his little brother Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia. Steven takes the shocking news bad; he starts failing classes. Trying to juggle his brother’s cancer, girls, school, and drum lessons can be hard, but with his friends he makes it through. Jordan Sonnenblick did a wonderful job writing this realistic heart-felt story. I decided to read it because my friends all said it was a great book, but I didn't know if that was enough. I saw how unique it was and as I started reading it all made sense and I fell in love with the story.


The one thing I didn't enjoy as much as the rest was the ending. I feel as if it almost didn't end at all, it just stopped, leaving me wondering. How did Jeffrey end up? I knew what Steven was going to say at the end of the story, but it didn't really leave me satisfied.

The title threw me off a little bit too. I understand the drums and girls, because he loves the drums and he has two girls he likes, but the dangerous pie was only mentioned once. There’s only one reason why it would be in the title, but it’s not very significant for most of the story. After Steven got mad at Jeffrey for making ‘dangerous pie’ with his special drum sticks ‘Jeffy’ was diagnosed. I felt bad for Steven because he blamed it on himself, that Jeffrey got cancer. Obviously it wasn’t his fault, but when something like that happens, you start to blame people and the most common person is yourself.


I really loved the basis of the story though. Every page made me want more. The fact that the story isn't a fairy tale like most stories really intrigued me. One thing that really spoke to me was how well Sonnenblick took the voice of an 8th grade boy. At that age you’re really trying to figure out who you are going to be and your emotions are trying to ‘trick’ you. Maybe Jordan Sonnenblick went through similar troubles at that age so he could really feel it and how someone that age would act. The way he described what Steven was thinking, really made me believe that I was reading an 8th grade boys’ journal.


I think connecting an author to his or her characters is very important because if you can’t feel what your own character feels, the reader won’t either. Sonnenblick was outstanding in that aspect, I could really feel Steven’s pain. I could feel Jeffrey’s pain and how sorry he was that everyone has to help him out. I loved the most how innocent Jeffrey was. He was the sweetest kid you would ever meet, which made Steven feel even worse. That really kept me going and reading- the way I could feel the characters and hear their thoughts.
This author was outstanding. Overall this book is one of my favorites and I would recommend it to anyone who likes realistic fiction. I would rate this book a 7/10 because of the great style of writing and an amazing story.