Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie (2005) (edit title/settings)

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Characters/People edit see section history

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• Steven Alper: Steven is an eighth grade boy who is a gifted drummer. His world got turned around when his younger brother got sick.He has to deal with his grades, his unresponsive parents, girls and his friends in this book. He has a crush on Renee Albert and deals with Jeffrey's cancer with help from Annette, Jeffrey's babysitter.
• Jeffrey Alper: Steven's 5-yr old brother, who is a little ball of energy and annoyance. He gets diagnosed with Leukemia and struggles with it throughout the book.
• Annette: Steven's closest friend who he doesn't pay much attention to because he's too busy gawking over his popular neighbor. She is a piano prodigy and in All-City Jazz Band.
• Renee Albert: The most popular girl in school, whom Steven has a crush upon, and is Steven's neighbor. She is on the cheer squad and dating a guitarist named Biff in the All-City Jazz Band and later becomes friends with Steven and supports his brother.
• Mrs. Galley: The school counselor, whom Steven has a very hard time opening up to at first, but later considers her a friend. She gives away little candy hearts to her students.
• Matt Medic: Jeffrey's action figure, who Steven entertains Jeffrey with when he is sick, or in the hospital.
• Ms. Palma: Ms. Palma is Steven's writing teacher, and in her class, Steven writes all about Jeffrey's Leukemia.

Quotes edit see section history

• “"Band is a tiny island of okay, in a vast sea of holy crap”

  Steven

• “And I wanted to punch every kid who told me they "understood" my pain. Nobody understood my pain. Maybe if I had gone to each of their houses, whacking random family members with a nail-studded two-by-four, they would have begun to have some basic comprehension.”

  Steven, in his pain

• “"Moatmeal!"”

  Jeffrey

• “I was sitting there, a beautiful girl to me right, and another beautiful girl to my left.”

  Steven

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• When my mother began to tell me that my baby brother had leukemia, my first feeling was relief.

  Highlighted by 36 Kindle customers

• But just because you get distracted by the silver lining for a little while, that doesn’t mean there’s not still a huge dark cloud behind it.

  Highlighted by 32 Kindle customers

• Maybe you’ll think it’s nuts that the brother of a cancer patient would feel lucky, but at that instant, I most surely did.

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• It’s funny. I used to think that having a brother was the worst thing in the world. But now I know that not having him would be worse.

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• And if there was one thing I’d finally figured out, it was that your mind is something you always CAN change.

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• Renee was beautiful, but she was my friend now. On the other hand, Annette was my friend, but now she was beautiful.

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• “Dangerous Pie” was a zesty blend of coffee grounds, raw eggs and their smashed shells, Coke, uncooked bacon, and three Matchbox racing cars.

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• I saw a drop of blood under his nose. Then two things happened at once: He started to scream like a banshee, and the drop of blood turned into a torrent.

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• TWENTY-THREE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY-NINE DOLLARS AND SEVENTEEN CENTS!!!

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• I couldn’t believe it—in the middle of this horrible experience, Jeffrey had thought of me and had even managed to find me a box of my favorite candy.

  Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Philadelphia
• Philly
• America
• school

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Life Journey: Steven goes through a life journey as his brother is diagnosed with leukemia.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by After Ever After.

Preceded by Elsewhere, and followed by Small Steps.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Jordan Sonnenblick (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults (2005, #5)
• Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Maryland) (2008: Grades 6-9, #1)
• Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award (Minnesota) (2008: Grades 6-8, #1)
• Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award (2009: Grades 6-8, #1)
• Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (Illinois) (2008, #1)
• Teens' Top Ten List (2005, #1)

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Children's Books › Science, Nature & How It Works › Health › Diseases › Fiction
• Books › Children's Books › People & Places › Social Situations › Emotions & Feelings › Fiction
• Books › Children's Books › People & Places › Family Life › Siblings › Fiction
• Books › Teens › Social Issues › Being a Teen
• Books › Children's Books › Literature › Humorous
• Books › Children's Books › Issues › Illness

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