Trap Jam

by Steven Barwin

Olivia is living a double life -- high-school student by day, drummer by night. Olivia doesn't know when hanging out in clubs and drinking to appear older and enjoy the music scene became a habit, but she finds herself hungover at school and sneaking alcohol at home. Her bandmates Eddie and Lucas think she is older, and Olivia keeps up the pretence even as her real life starts to fall apart.When Lucas catches Olivia talking to her friend Raymond in the women's washroom, he beats up Raymond in a jealous rage. With Raymond unconscious and seriously hurt, Lucas tells Olivia that Raymond's criminal brother is looking for them for payback. They go on the run, sleeping in a borrowed van and stealing to get by. Lucas keeps Olivia drunk and off-balance, telling her he loves her and pressuring her to have sex with him -- even when she reveals she's only sixteen. Still, through an alcoholic haze, Olivia sees that Lucas is delusional and dangerous. When she finally discovers that the story about Raymond's brother is a lie, she realizes she has to get out of Lucas's obsessional trap.

Paperback

About the author

STEVEN BARWIN is a writer and a teacher who lives in Toronto. He has written for television shows as well as DVD interactive games. His previous Sports Stories novels, Slam Dunk and Roller Hockey Blues, were both Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice selections.

Reviews

[Trisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

"What you don't know, Lizzy, is that you get what you give."

I was not a fan of this one. The message was way to heavy handed and so extreme. It was interesting to hear about Olivia's love of music, her want to join a band and play her own stuff. Also, I loved that she was the drummer which felt like a nontraditional role for a main character that is female.

But the underage drinking danger message was just....far too extreme. There are more subtle ways that even light drinking at such a young age is a bad idea. I liked that it showed how she got into the situation and how it turned but it turned too quickly and into way to extreme. I can't imagine a teenager reading the story isn't going to feel like it's just another adult warning them about the dangers they don't take seriously anyways.

[Doris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who doesn’t want to follow their dreams? That’s exactly what 16 year old Olivia is doing by joining a band as their drummer; the only thing is she is lying about her age in order to get in. Then there is the bad boy lead singer Lucas who has caught her eye but remember what is on the outside isn’t always what’s on the inside. As for school she is falling asleep in class and coming in hungover which can only lead to disaster. This is a book that is for the YA crowd with a lot of life lessons.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley for a free given and honest review.

[Anne Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those Lorimer books are hard to rate. I understand, they are meant for poor readers, hoping to get them interested with stories touching their daily lives, and create new interest for books among middle school students or freshman or sophomores in high school. Does it work? A little, I think, and every bit helps.
Here, Olivia wants to play drums, and to be in a band. She cheats a bit about her age, the school she attends and s so happy to be the drummer that she does not much further. When Lucas shows his instability, lack of control, and a lot of reports thinking he's a drunk first and a musician then, the girl, younger, more innocent should runaway. But she is young, and has to much to learn. She cannot lean low, because she believes bad guys are after them. Too young to go on a show without being protected, she needs her father to guide her.
The book ends as she realizes a music career may be for her, but she must grow up first.
I think everyone understands the books have to be rated differently as they are not meant for book lovers, they are supposed to drive young people to like books. So, it must be worth 3 stars, it's readable without special efforts, not badly written, and though the subject is not my favorite one, it may interest teenagers. What do you think?

[Completely Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about a 16 girl who wants to grow up a little too fast. Being in a high school band isn't good enough, she wants something more. She auditions for a band and gets in, but lies about her age and pretends that she is actually a college student instead of in high school. Next thing you know she is a 16 year old alcoholic that is failing school and in a seriously abusive relationship. The story was well written, but it was just missing something for me.

[Mandy Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the SideStreets series! Designed for teens who don't have a lot of time, experience, or desire to read, they still manage to write great books with hard realities that many teens can relate to. This type of book is particularly valuable to my library because we are also helping students learn English as a second language. When a student gets to read one of these books, they don't feel self-conscious about reading them. So, I'll just start off with my little disclaimer of how much I love these books.

Trap Jam is centered around Olivia - a gifted female drummer who is sixteen years old and eager to grab life and fame by the horns. She scores a place with a local band and a few issues emerge right away: 1. She had to lie about her age to get into the band. 2. She has to lie to her father about the band. and 3. She is attracted to the lead singer, Lucas. Oh, young love! Who isn't attracted to a bad boy, lead singer, or guitarist at some point? With the band taking up so much of her time and her new experiences drinking with them, she is falling asleep in class, hungover, and not getting it done academically anymore. But who has time to care about school when fame and fortune is surely just around the bend?

The book summary basically tells you everything else that happens so let me just throw a few things out there:
-Olivia realizes that Lucas is dangerous over and over again but can't quite bring herself to break up with him. This is a hard issue. A lot of girls and boys have this problem. I'm glad a book is discussing dating violence and obsession and portrays it realistically. If you're reading this and you're in a relationship like that, get out! It will be hard, but you need to save yourself before something truly horrific happens.
-Olivia also realizes that her dad isn't just a fuddy-duddy. He's looking out for her best interest and mortified when she disappears.
-Olivia does manage to overcome her bad decision making. Such an important part! Bad decisions come with consequences but you can overcome that to achieve great things!

Another winner from SideStreets and Steve Barwin!

[Keep Calm Novel On · Rating 4 out of 5]

NetGalley provided a copy of the ePub in exchange for an honest review.

Sixteen-year-old Olivia becomes trapped as she tries to explore her passion—music. She lies about her age to potential band mates and her dangerous journey begins. Her life begins to unravel as one lie leads to another in order to conceal her secret life from her caring and concerned father.

Trap Jam by Steven Barwin would be perfect for the reluctant young adult reader. The author explores many issues including but not limited to underage drinking, at-risk behavior, racism, peer pressure, lying to name a few. The short fast moving chapters make this a quick read. This original novel would lend itself to small or large group discussions. Olivia discovers that lies have short tails.

[Tanya Grech Welden · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a secondary teacher I am well aware that there is an increasing market for YA Fiction that caters to the needs of our more reluctant readers, These readers tend to prefer shorter stories, usually Contemporary Fiction that focuses on themes and ideas directly related to the target audience. "Trap Jam" along with other stories published in the Sidestreets imprint certainly reaches out to this audience. The question as to whether or not this is successful remains to be seen. I fear that sophisticated readers will find this book telly and simplistic. Certainly the character and plot development is one dimensional, although to be fair the simple language is a barrier here. Will reluctant readers find appeal in this story? For a few reasons, while the themes are attractive and the language is accessible, I fear that it will fail to inspire. I believe inauthentic character development will lead many readers to become quickly bored. Personally, I know many "reluctant readers" who have been drawn to books solely on the basis of a carefully constructed character, It explains the widespread success of JK Rowlings "Harry Potter" series. However, the biggest concern I have for this story is that it leans towards being preachy. I can almost hear the author shaking his head with disdain and muttering, "see, this is what happens if you drink underage, this is what happens if you go to underage clubs......blah, blah, blah." To be fair, I don't think the author had an easy brief to follow. It is tricky to write a simple story that will appeal to reluctant (and often struggling) readers without coming off as being moralistic. Barwin simply didn't have the word count and free-reign with vocabulary to authentically paint a picture for the reader that didn't sound like a tutting adult.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book went into a completely different direction than I thought it would and that was a nice surprise.

I liked the fact that the author chose to incorporate music as a background for what would quickly become a scary and horrific scenario - kind of feels as though I was lured into the whole thing and I loved it.

Yes, this book is hard to read, unfortunately, it also portrays a reality that is all too - wellll "real" and Olivia falls into the whole thing. I am not sure why, because I would have liked to know more about her and her life - although I get that she is a teenager that is too anxious to grow up. I admit, while there was a father figure in this story, the guy bugged me. He felt too cliche and appeared to only be superficial -

I have to say, the way Olivia just seems to naturally slip into the role of victim was so scary and I found myself frantic to get from page to page to see what would happen to her. I am glad she find some kind of inner strength, but wow - it took a lot for her to get there.

This book was engrossing and scary.

[A.W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

16 year old Olivia wants to follow her dreams in music by joining a band and begins lying about her age and then continues to weave a bunch of lies until it all finally catches up with her.

Trap Jam is good for what it’s intended for, to attract reluctant teens and young adults to read, and maybe even enjoy it. For a quick read, Steven Barwin delves into many different teenage issues such as underage drinking, relationships, etc and does so successfully.

It was great to see that in the end, Olivia was able to stand up for herself and not become a victim, like I was afraid was going to happen. The whole time I disliked Lucas’ character but managed to get a little sympathy from me.

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.

Review also posted here: http://wp.me/p4Pp9O-w

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially, I was pulled into the story, but then it sort of started fizzling away and I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the scenes. While it was evident that Olivia had problems, particularly having to do with drinking, the other stuff like pretending to be in college so she could stay in the band and putting up with Lucas's nonsense was too unrealistic to me.

One thing I did love about Trap Jam is the diversity, and the fact that the main character was a musician. Aside from that, it was an okay story, but I feel like it could've been deeper.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trap Jam, with its plot centered around the music world, explores many topics/issues that will resonate with middle and high school students - following dreams, underage drinking, healthy/unhealthy relationships, standing up for what is right, knowing when to be independent and when to ask for help. Its lower reading level makes it accessible to struggling or reluctant readers.

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Karla Urrutia Fernández · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read via netgalley

2.5

I didnt like too much the book. I think there was too many things happening: Alcohol , obssesed boyfriend, Dreams coming true, drums, lies, it was too much. and none of them was to develop. Some thing were too superficial. I think the author must have had to write in just one or two things, not many things and do it the right way, or a meaningfull way.

[natasa · Rating 3 out of 5]

egész olvasmányos volt, de a történetet sikerült tizenegyesig tekerni. szerintem jobban működött volna valamivel visszafogottabban. tudom, hogy "ez csak egy film", de ha már tiniproblémákat dolgoz föl a sorozat, akkor nyúlhattak volna kicsit életszerűbben is hozzá.

[Karol Denisse Flamenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a perfect life lesson to everybody who struggles in finding out who they are and what they want to their lives to be. Really motivated.