Thumbs Up! Tim Federle's New Book Five, Six, Seven, Nate! Deserves a Standing Ovation

Katniss Everdeen fought to the death in a televised battle and Harry Potter overcame Lord Voldemort, but Nate Foster has an even bigger challenge ahead of him: Making his Broadway debut as Alien Number Seven in E.T.: The Musical! Broadway alum Tim Federle's newest middle-grade novel Five, Six, Seven, Nate!, the follow-up to last year's outstanding Better Nate Than Ever, somehow manages to be even more dramatic, quick-witted and poignant than its predecessor. To catch you up to speed, the first installment introduced us to Nate Foster, a 13-year-old boy from Jankberg, PA, who dreams of making it big on Broadway. So, at the urging of his best friend Libby, Nate boards a Greyhound bus (shudder) and hightails it to the Big Apple for an open audition for E.T.: The Musical. Five, Six, Seven, Nate! picks up just as our young, gleeful and gifted hero—yes, he's a hero, in his own right—is beginning rehearsals for the big-budget tuner. The novel playfully pulls back the curtain on the painstaking, high-pressure and wildly theatrical world of mounting a Broadway musical, but the story truly excels in its quieter, more vulnerable moments. With a nuanced flair, Federle taps into the struggles of not only the lovable Nate, but the child of a cancer-stricken parent, an aging performer, a sensitive teen trying to make friends and more. Five, Six, Seven, Nate! isn't just for Broadway buffs or fans of middle-grade fiction, it's for anyone who has ever felt special but stifled, ecstatic but scared, or loved but lonely. And to top it all off, Five, Six, Seven, Nate! ends with (in this writer's opinion) the most inspiring text message exchange ever. Pick it up in bookstores now!