Horn Book Review
In her twentieth outing, Mallory once again has to make the best of a bad situation. This time it's a six-week arts program, which Mallory had been eagerly anticipating...until she's assigned to play the tuba in the school band. How the reliably likable protagonist, with a teacher's help, deals with the humiliation makes for an enjoyable story. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Like most of the kids in grades four through six in her school, Mallory's thrilled to hear they're going to have six weeks of arts electives--until she is assigned the tuba. What's a girl to do? Mallory and her classmates can choose among orchestra, drama, ballet or band--Mallory's third choice. When the dreaded day arrives, Ms. Anderson inexplicably assigns Mallory to play tuba, in spite of her very strong desire to play anything else--not the best way to inspire enthusiasm for musical instruments! Mallory hates it from the first and is caught up in envy of her friends who got their top-choice electives and in embarrassment for the terrible sounds emerging from the tuba. It's all made worse by her distaste for practice. Naturally, things eventually all work out for the best. Many readers of early chapter books will already be familiar with Mallory since this is the 20th in the series. Slightly stylized but nonetheless evocative black-and-white illustrations accompany the relatively simple text. Mallory's first-person narration offers an amusing take on her difficult situation but lacks the spirited depth of voices such as Amber Brown's and Clementine's. Perhaps due to Mallory's primarily female audience, all of the dance participants are "ballerinas"; how odd to eliminate the male students from this choice. Readers of the series will probably eagerly scoop up another somewhat vanilla-flavored entry. (Fiction. 8-11)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In the twentieth book in the Mallory series, Mallory is excited that her school is now offering arts classes. However, her excitement turns to disappointment when she is assigned to band class, and again after she learns that her instrument is the tuba. Despondence turns to determination when she faces the choice of practicing diligently or risking humiliation at the upcoming performance. Told in first person, the story is light and somewhat predictable, but it brings up some interesting issues with implications beyond music education. An amusing Music Quiz is appended. Mallory's emotions are clearly expressed in the first-person narrative and the many grayscale illustrations.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
