Midnight Hour Encores

by Bruce Brooks, Joel P. Johnson (Illustrations)

On the Road

Sibilance T. Spooner thinks she's one of the world's more promising cellists. The world thinks so too. Given up by her mother on the day she was born, she believes she has almost raised herself--with just a bit of guidance from her unconventional father, Taxi. When Sib finally asks Taxi to take her to meet her mother for the first time, she knows it might mean breaking away from the man who has raised her. Finding your own path often means leaving those you love, and Sib is willing to take the risk. Yet as she and her dad wind their way across the country to San Francisco, Sib discovers she may not be as "self-made" as she thought. And as she learns more about the man she thought she knew, she finds out it's not simply her music that makes her special, but also the love from the parent she might have to leave behind.

1986 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1987 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
Best Books of 1986 (SLJ)
Best of the 80's (BL)
Young Adult Choices for 1988 (IRA)
1987 Teachers' Choices (IRA)
1987 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
Best of the 80's (English Journal)

Genres: Young Adult, Music, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Novels, Childrens, Contemporary

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Bruce Brooks (born September 23, 1950) is an American author of young adult and children's literature. He was born in Washington D.C., but spent most of his time growing up in North Carolina as a result of parents' being divorced. Although divorce is never easy for a child, Brooks credits moving around a lot between the two locations with making him a keen observer of social situations. Switching schools often and having to make new friends evolved his ability to tell good stories. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1980. Before earning a living as a writer, Brooks had worked as a letterpress operator and a journalist for magazines and newspapers. Brooks has reported a very diverse list of influences, like Charles Dickens, Henry James, P.G. Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler. Brooks has three sons: Alex, 23, Spencer, 15, and Drake, 1. He lives with his wife Ginee Seo in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Reviews

[K.H. Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between the ages of about 9 to 14, this was my go-to book. I read it over and over. It was the underlying sadness that drew me in. The father-daughter relationship was real - it made sense to me in a way that few other books could match.

I picked it up again as an adult and was elated to discover I could still get swept up in it. Admittedly, the 5-star rating comes from the 10-year-old me. If I had read this book for the first time as an adult I would have enjoyed it, but not nearly as much. However, as a book I loved when I was learning to love books, it's aces.

[Katie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read and reread this book so many times during my formative years that I'm pretty sure if you cut me open, you'd find whole passages of it inside of me.

[Mary Emma Sivils · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author definitely has a gift for describing the world of music! Sib’s relationship with music was my favorite thing about the book. As for her as a character…well, I didn’t really care for how prickly and arrogant she was. The morals of all the characters were highly questionable. And the plot, though it had some strong points, spent too long wandering one direction or another.
The ending was very satisfying, at least!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a favorite in high school. Finding it again years later, I find that it's still a favorite.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never read anything like this book. I'm a long-time fan of Bruce Brooks, and I've been slowly making my way through his bibliography. This cover caught my eye because of the cello. The plot and characters are so entrenched in their own time and cultural context that I occasionally had a hard time understanding the lingo/references from the 80s. A lot of the things that happened (underage drinking, underage romance with an adult, etc.) Surprised me so much that I thought i must have missed that she was 21 or something but no, she is sixteen and her parents are cool with it. Lol Growing up during this time must have been truly wild. I can totally see this being a banned book if it were published today. As far as the book goes, I dont think these characters had the same magic as some of his others. However, the affection between characters, the playful almost poetic dialogue, and his unique insight into and ability to write about human connection was certainly there, and it was fun reading a book that is, in essence, a time capsule.

[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my very favorite books when I was around eleven or twelve. I’m quite sure I read it at least half a dozen times. In a fit of nostalgia last month, I ordered myself a copy.
Unlike most of the books I’ve returned to as an adult, this one stands up. Sib is an excellent main character, and I’m left wondering if this book led to my lifelong predilection for slightly salty, slightly unlikeable, unabashed female characters.
Since I am no longer 12, and now instead an adult who has engaged in serious academic study of the 1960s, I did struggle with some of the simplistic characterizations of the Age of Aquarius. That’s my own fault for growing up and being a nerd, though.
Spoiler: the saddest part of the book is that Sib’s mom turns out to be Jerry Rubin.

[Kole · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a cute story. I think I would have appreciated it more if I was a music person, but the parent relationships were really wholesome. Honestly, I think I like Taxi and Connie better than Sib. Sibilance is a little too abrasive and cold to be relatable. Not to mention she was fully ready to just leave her dad-the person who raised her as a single parent-for some music program with a Russian teacher she tracked down. Also I am mildly concerned about her relationship with Martin. She’s sixteen and “falls in love” with this twenty-something year-old after just meeting him.

[Huan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this as an adult, without having read it as a teen or child, was a bit of an intense experience. In a good way. I put myself more in Taxi's shoes throughout the book despite it being narrated from Sibilance's perspective. Some parts I found really hard to slog through, others humorous, and yet others evoked anguish, disbelief, and more -- but yearning, most of all. And for that I'll probably treasure this book.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a coming of age story about a young girl who is an accomplished musician. It was very interesting and well written though some of the story line was a little over the top.

[Phoebe Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bruce Brook's beautiful prose inspired me to think differently about what novels for young readers can achieve.

[Sarah Guy]

Another childhood favorite. More crying.

[Debbie is on Storygraph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember when I first heard about this book. I have an ever-growing TBR list where I will add any book that I hear someone recommend highly that sounds interesting. As I used to be a member of a number of online book message boards and communities, my TBR list grew rather fast for a number of years before I finally unsubscribed from them all for my own sanity.

I finally grabbed this from my bookcase on a whim the other night and started in. For some reason, I had thought this was a fantasy. I don't know why, exactly, other than I read that almost exclusively for the longest time. It also means that I have the delight of discovering new-to-me young adult books that people normally read back in middle or high school that I skipped over.

Like this one.

If you were to ask what is the theme of this book, I'd have a hard time describing it. There's music, of course, as the main character is a cellist. It's not quite a coming of age story, though it's close. It's a story of family, and self, and music.

Silibance T. Spooner unexpectedly asks her father to take her to meet her mother, who she has never met. This starts a cross-country journey where she learns about her parents and the Age of Aquarius. There's some very well-done introspection on how people change over time and being true to one's self, as well as finding oneself through music.

There's also a secondary story about a mystery Soviet cellist that Sib spends an inordinate amount of time trying to track down, that ties in neatly and wonderfully with the main story.

There's really a lot going on in this book. I enjoyed it a lot. I only wish I had actually read it 15 years ago. I also wish it wasn't so long out of print.

[Agnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upon perusing our bookshelves on Saturday, I glanced at this young adult novel that I read when I was probably around 14 and remember really liking. I thought I'd see how it has stood the test of time. Verdict: pretty well. It's the story of a 16-year old cello prodigy, who has grown up in DC with her father, after being abandoned at 20 hours old by her mother. She asks, with ulterior motives, to finally meet her mother, and her father takes her on a cross-country drive to San Francisco, during which he tries to explain the hippy 60s context of his ex-wife's decision. I remember particularly liking the main character, Sib, for being a truly bitchy but smart 16-year old, and I still enjoyed her this time around. I also really liked the context of international cello competitions and a prodigy's approach to music. The novel is now 20+ years old, but it still feels pretty contemporary.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Musical prodigies are different, of course; but they are also the same. They struggle with the same questions about adolescence as others. In Sibilance's case, though, she also struggles with her identity, being given up by her mother at birth. Can she come to terms with her mother? with her career? After all, she is her own favorite musician.

I liked Sibilance. I liked the end of the book, and the characters she met, and her strength of character, even though she would have driven me right over the edge if she were my daughter! Some musicians point out that she isn't realistic-- she doesn't struggle enough with her music. But maybe that's not the point. Maybe the point is that no matter how gifted you may be in one area, you must struggle with something else; or maybe it's just about how choices in art and choices in life intertwine.

But I won't forget this book.

[Ammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this book many times; I don't like it as much as I used to, but I think it's just because I'm in a different place in my life (mostly, I read a lot less Ayn Rand and admire egotism a lot less). My mom and I still occasionally have arguments about whether the main character is a selfish brat or a "self-realized" young woman, but I think I finally understand that she's kind of both. But I still love the way Brooks writes about music; some of his descriptions still make me want to pick up my viola and really rediscover that love.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in the process of boxing up some of the books that I had when I was a girl when I came across this book. It seemed a shame to box up a book without reading it first but I honestly didn't realize what a treasure I had. Beautifully written. The kind of book that has you so captured by the story and the characters that you honestly don't realize you are reading. Surprisingly thought provoking and intellectual. I actually want to share it with my dad of all people.

[elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the earliest books I read and loved as a new YA librarian. As a cellist myself (at the time I was still playing), the cover attracted me as soon as I saw it. Another one that I'm not sure why it took me so long to add to my shelves. I own an old yellowed paperback that was weeded from a branch after not circ-ing for years.

[Anne]

I read this in a search for a book about a teenage cellist that I read during a long family vacation in my sullen middle school years. Other than it being about a cellist, it didn't ring a bell, which could mean my memory is faulty or that the book I read is no longer out there to be found (I searched exhaustively). Either way, this is a lovely little book.

[Meagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I learned? You can't be a smartass without the smart. There's a place for girls in the world who aren't sweet valley twins driving matching alfa romeos with their spanish-tiled kitchen and their surfboards and what-not. Beautiful.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reread of a book from back in the day. If I was being totally objective, this would probably get two stars: this story has too many threads, and the author doesn't really tie them together in satisfying fashion. But nostalgia has its ways...

[Lisa Findley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book! Coming-of-age done right, with no sentiment, just real feelings, and a road trip besides. Funny, smart, and the reason I love good YA books.

[Janelle Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

if you r a music lover (piano), you will enjoy this piece of ad. lit.

[Cookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book with the hope to teach a lesson that evolved from it. I was not able to teach the lesson as planned, however, I truly enjoyed the story. It was definitely not what I was expecting.

[Blossom · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I could give it less than one star. It moved so slowly and lacked visual vivacity

[Victoria Giorgio · Rating 4 out of 5]

it wa preety good

[Amshu Gajurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most touching father-daughter story I've ever read.Sibilance is my inspiration!And Martin...sigh...wish they were together in the end but brilliant book though.It's a must read for all.:)

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was beautiful.

[Tommy Harmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was pretty good. Got a little boring near the end though.