Maybelle Lane is looking for her father, but on the road to Nashville she finds so much more: courage, brains, heart--and true friends. Eleven-year-old Maybelle Lane collects sounds. She records the Louisiana crickets chirping, Momma strumming her guitar, their broken trailer door squeaking. But the crown jewel of her collection is a sound she didn't collect herself: an old recording of her daddy's warm-sunshine laugh, saved on an old phone's voicemail. It's the only thing she has of his, and the only thing she knows about him. Until the day she hears that laugh--his laugh--pouring out of the car radio. Going against Momma's wishes, Maybelle starts listening to her radio DJ daddy's new show, drinking in every word like a plant leaning toward the sun. When he announces he'll be the judge of a singing contest in Nashville, she signs up. What better way to meet than to stand before him and sing with all her heart?
Awards
2020 Indie Next Selection ● 2021 Bank Street College Best Children’s Books ● 2021 Northern California Book Award Nominee ● 2022 All Iowa Reads Kids Selection ● 2022 Kentucky Bluegrass Award Nominee ● 2022 New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award Nominee ● 2022 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Nominee ● 2022 Rhode Island Children’s Book Award Nominee ● 2022-2023 South Dakota Book Award Nominee ● 2022-2023 Missouri Mark Twain Book Award Preliminary Nominee
Reviews
★ “Maybelle Lane finds courage she didn’t know she had—and it’s contagious. A rich and rewarding debut.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ "Lyrical and full of heart, this road trip story gets to the core of what it means to create family, to be brave, and to accept the flaws of being human." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“There is healing in this book, and laughter, and grace, and surprising love. Don’t read it with a box of tissues—just cry, then smile and grow.” —Gary D. Schmidt, author of The Wednesday Wars, a Newbery Honor Winner