Victoria Torres Unfortunately Average: Face the Music is a middle school band story about the struggles of who should be first chair, and how musical opportunities might cause difficulties at school. Victoria, called Bonita by her father, has several friends with definite personalities. Oh, those years can be tough. The big holiday concert is coming up, and Victoria’s music teacher thinks she should take home the new piccolo to try. However, her best friend (Bea) is considered to be the best musician and is mad she was not selected. Later, Bea does try the piccolo enough that a blind audition is held at school for a fair decision, but there is plenty of drama along the way until that time.

Victoria Torres is average in every way and would like an opportunity to shine. She lives in an average house in the center of town, is a middle child, is average height, and sits in the middle of the flute section. Beaday, Saturday fun with her BFF, does not happen as planned after Victoria is chosen to take the piccolo home. They share a locker at school to make things even worse. Of course some people have to call the piccolo a pickle and make jokes.

Mom, Dad, and one friend Jenny are supportive of Victoria, but she needs determination and a positive attitude. This book is good for helping middle school students understand how to work through some difficult situations. It would make for good classroom discussions about what to do in similar situations.
This book was given to me for review for Multicultural Children's Book Day 2016 and is being donated to a Minnesota school.
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