Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star

by Randy Powell

Overview

Grady is skateboarding toward a major decision

No longer able to live with his grandmother, fifteen-year-old Grady Grennan has to find a new address. one option is to move in with his mentally disabled half brother, Louie, in Seattle. But that poses a problem: Louie's adoptive mother, Vickie, and Grady are about as compatible as Mozart and heavy metal.

Nevertheless, Grady's testing the waters. He's in Seattle for a concert tribute to his and Louie's mother, a grunge rock icon who died three years ago. Grady has been invited to speak at the tribute, but what is he supposed to say to thousands of adoring fans about a mother who abandoned her sons in favor of a musical career?

Both humorous and deeply moving, Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star poses challenging, provocative questions to all sorts of readers — cynics, liberals, slackers, and rock stars included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374479688
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	09/09/2003
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.51(d)
Lexile:	720L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Randy Powell is the author of five novels, including Dean Duffy and Is Kissing a Girl Who Smokes Like Licking an Ashtray?, both ALA Best Books for Young Adults. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions for

Tribute to Another

Dead Rock Star

n When you see a learning-disabled person

like Louie, how do you react? Grady and Vickie

have very different ideas about how Louie

should be treated, although they both care

about his welfare. Contrast their methods and

describe them in action. Which style do you

think is better for Louie? In what ways does he

need both?

n Grady is facing a big decision about where

he is going to live in the coming year. He has

four alternatives. What are the advantages and

the drawbacks of each? Which would you

choose if you were Grady? When you are faced

with a confusing choice about your future,

what do you do to help yourself decide?

n A novel always centers on a conflict,

which is eventually resolved near the end of

the story. In this book, the conflict is between
Grady's positive and negative memories and

feelings about his mother and his indecision

about what he is going to say about her at

the concert. Find some quotes that illustrate

his confusion. At what point is this conflict

resolved? What does Mitch say or do to

contribute to that resolution? Mindy? Dave

Davis? Dr. Prescott? Vickie? Louie?

n Grady wonders, "Why is it so important

to me, both to have something of her in me

and to be as unlike her as possible?" [p. 187]

What are the ways he wants to be like and

unlike his mother? Why did Debbie wait in

line at the ferry to go to Lopez Island on the

last night of her life? How do both Mitch and

Grady express the same longing?

n Mitch says about living with a family,

"You have to put up with them and they have

to put up with you, and sometimes it's a

pain in the butt." [p. 208] In other words,

compromise is necessary. What compromises

do Vickie and Grady offer each other at the

end of the story? What else is necessary for

mutual respect, and what does Vickie say to

make this possible?

Editorial Reviews

Grady Grennan-the likable fifteen-year-old son of Janis Joplin-like rock star Debbie Grennan, who abandoned him when he was seven and died from choking after overdosing on drugs and alcohol-relates what happens when he is invited to speak at a tribute in Seattle for his celebrity mother...A moving and memorable story with sharply etched characters.” —School Library Journal

“Powell poses some provocative questions in this unglamorized, introspective look at the fringes of the rock-star scene. Grady, the 15-year-old narrator, returns to his hometown of Seattle three years after the death of his mother, famous hard-rocker Debbie Grennan, to speak at a concert performed in her memory. While there, he stays with his mentally handicapped half-brother, Louie, and Louie's born-again-Christian family. The half-brothers' artless conversations allow Grady time to reflect on Debbie's rise to fame as well as her self-destructive behavior.” —Starred / Publishers Weekly

“Randy Powell never gives in to cheap thrills or pronouncements...Everything and everyone is written with concentrated intelligence and affection.” —Hungry Mind Review

From the Publisher

A 15-year-old returns to his hometown three years after the death of his mother, a famous hard-rocker, to speak at a concert performed in her memory. "Some provocative questions are posed in this unglamorized introspective look at the fringes of the rock-star scene," wrote PW in a starred review. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Powell (Dean Duffy; The Whistling Toilets) poses some provocative questions in this unglamorized, introspective look at the fringes of the rock-star scene. Grady, the 15-year-old narrator, returns to his hometown of Seattle three years after the death of his mother, famous hard-rocker Debbie Grennan, to speak at a concert performed in her memory. While there, he stays with his mentally handicapped half-brother, Louie, and Louie's born-again-Christian family. The half-brothers' artless conversations allow Grady time to reflect on Debbie's rise to fame as well as her self-destructive behavior. From beginning to end, the novel spans only three days; still, the author manages to skillfully encapsulate the personalities of the people and events that have shaped the protagonist. Acutely aware of how his presence causes tension in Louie's household, Grady nonetheless feels a form of acceptance and love from them that his own mother was unable to give. The author thoughtfully and convincingly works out Grady's dilemma about his future (weighing whether to move in with Louie's family, attend school in Europe or become a stagehand for a rock band) as he comes to terms with his mother's strengths and failings ("No, she was no great person. And yet she wasn't the devil, either"). Through sharply defined characters and lively, often humorous dialogue, Powell allows readers to comfortably examine some serious issues. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 8-11-Grady Grennan-the likable 15-year-old son of Janis Joplin-like rock star Debbie Grennan, who abandoned him when he was 7 and died from choking after overdosing on drugs and alcohol-relates what happens when he is invited to speak at a tribute in Seattle for his celebrity mother. No longer able to live with his grandmother, who has remarried and moved away, Grady must decide whether to move in with the family of his mildly retarded 13-year-old half brother, Louie, or enroll in a study-abroad program in Europe. While attending the tribute, he stays with Louie, his architect father Mitch, his stepmother Vickie, and their three children. Vickie is a committed Christian whose outlook on life and focus on discipline and structure often clash with Grady's more freewheeling life-style. The teen's low-key first-person narrative is alternately sarcastic and self-reflective, and his touching, ambivalent remembrances of his flamboyant mother are skillfully intertwined with his candid account of his fitful, turbulent, and ultimately successful search for a family he's always missed. A moving and memorable story with sharply etched characters.-Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

The smoothly written novel depicts a real teen with unusual parentage and eloquently portrays the complexities and affections of family life.
— The Horn Book Magazine

Adams

A teenager confronts a stomach-churning change in living arrangements in this thought-provoking tale from Powell (Dean Duffy, 1995, etc.).

Kirkus Reviews