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A Little Wanting Song Library Binding – June 8, 2010

by Cath Crowley (Author)

4.3 48 ratings

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A summer of friendship, romance, and songs in major chords. . . .

CHARLIE DUSKIN loves music, and she knows she's good at it. But she only sings when she's alone, on the moonlit porch or in the back room at Old Gus's Secondhand Record and CD Store. Charlie's mom and grandmother have both died, and this summer she's visiting her grandpa in the country, surrounded by ghosts and grieving family, and serving burgers to the local kids at the milk bar. She's got her iPod, her guitar, and all her recording equipment, but she wants more: A friend. A dad who notices her. The chance to show Dave Robbie that she's not entirely unspectacular.

ROSE BUTLER lives next door to Charlie's grandfather and spends her days watching cars pass on the freeway and hanging out with her troublemaker boyfriend. She loves Luke but can't wait to leave their small country town. And she's figured out a way: she's won a scholarship to a science school in the city, and now she has to convince her parents to let her go. This is where Charlie comes in. Charlie, who lives in the city, and whom Rose has ignored for years. Charlie, who just might be Rose's ticket out.

Told in alternating voices and filled with music, friendship, and romance, Charlie and Rose's "little wanting song" is about the kind of longing that begins as a heavy ache but ultimately makes us feel hopeful and wonderfully alive.

From the Hardcover edition.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication date

June 8, 2010
Grade level

9 - 12
Reading age

14 years and up
Dimensions

5.77 x 1.13 x 8.51 inches
ISBN-10

0375960961
ISBN-13

978-0375960963
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cath Crowley grew up in rural Victoria, Australia. She studied professional writing and editing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and works as both a freelance writer and a part-time teacher in Melbourne.

A Little Wanting Song was shortlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award. To find out more about Cath, please visit www.cathcrowley.com.au.

From the Hardcover edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Charlie

Dad and I leave town in the early dark. It's the second Sunday of the holidays, and we pack up the old blue car with enough clothes for summer and hit the road. It's so early he's wiping hills of sand piled in the corners of his eyes. I wipe a few tears from mine. Tears don't pile, though. They grip and cling and slide in salty trails that I taste till the edge of the city. It's our first Christmas in the country since Gran died. At six o'clock the sun rises and lights the car from the outside. Blinds us almost. Dad squints through his glasses at the road, but me? I close my eyes. I like things better when I listen. Everything in the world's got a voice; most people don't hear hard enough is all. Sunrise sounds like slow chords dripping from my guitar this morning. Sad chords, in B-flat.

"Open your eyes, Charlie love," Mum whispers. "You'll miss out on the day." Not a lot to miss out on, really. My days have been sort of shaky lately. Like a voice running out of breath. Like a hand playing the blues. Like a girl losing her bikini top in the pool at Jeremy Magden's final party for Year 10 last week, if we're getting specific. Mum says look on the bright side. Okay. I guess I was only half naked.

The thing that really kills is that the party started so well. I was talking and making jokes and the words were rolling easily, and I thought: I've done it. I've found that thing, whatever that thing is, that most people have but I don't.

"Check out Alex checking you out," Dahlia said, and we laughed. I felt good because it sounded like she wasn't mad anymore. And a guy was finally looking at me, not straight through to the other side. There was this beat under my skin, a little disco weaving through me. That's how it is when I'm alone and playing the guitar, but that's never how it is in a crowd.

Only, that day it was. I had the first line of a new song in my head. A song about a guy and a party and a smile. The words were in my mouth and the tune was in my blood, and it felt so loud I thought: If Alex kisses me, he'll hear it singing through my skin.

And I wanted him to hear. Because he grinned electricity through my bones, when most days I play solo and acoustic. Because Dahlia's new friends might like me if I had something other than music to talk about during Louise Spatula's post-party analysis.

"You look good. The sunglasses are working. You can do this," Dahlia told me. And I really thought I could. I was confident. I was ready.

"Just remember," Louise said, "a blow-up doll could get Alex."

I was stuffed. "Thanks. I won't keep that in mind." But I did keep it in mind. If things went badly, Louise would make sure everyone knew it and I'd be a step below plastic for the rest of my high school life. Dahlia took Louise inside so I wouldn't have an audience, but she did it too late. My disco disappeared. I walked across to Alex, humming a song I called "Fuck" because that was the only word in it.

The chorus was moving through my head and I was so busy humming I didn't see the football game. I walked straight through the middle. David Amar threw the ball; Joseph Ryan sprinted to get it and collected me on the way. I ran in front of him for a couple of seconds, and then I ducked and rolled into the pool. Unexpected, sure. But not entirely uncool.

It was kind of funny. Till I realized the force of the fall had loosened my bikini top and it was impossible to find in the middle of all the water-bombing that was going on around me. Swimming along the bottom, I forced my eyes open and searched through legs. I could have done something creative with a couple of chip packets and a leaf at that point, but I had nothing. Absolutely nothing. Except a little voice inside me screaming out for one, just one, normal encounter with a guy. Or at least abnormal with clothes.

From the Hardcover edition.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Books for Young Readers; 1st edition (June 8, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Library Binding ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375960961
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375960963
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.77 x 1.13 x 8.51 inches

Customer Reviews:
4.3 48 ratings

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Cath Crowley
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CATH CROWLEY is an award-winning author of young adult novels, including Graffiti Moon, A Little Wanting Song and Words in Deep Blue. She lives, writes, and teaches creative writing in Melbourne, Australia. Visit her online at cathcrowleyauthor.com or find her on Twitter at @CathCrowley
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book beach bunny

Real and Relatable Story and Characters

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2014

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To be honest any stories that include songs or music have a leg up with me. This story was really lovely and highly relatable in my opinion. Charlie lost her mother and is to scared to do anything for the most part. She talks through her music but she can't actually bring herself to perform. Rose has a wonderful family, best friend and boyfriend but she desperately wants out of her small town where she sees her mother got stuck long ago. When Charlie comes to town to visit her grandfather Rose sees the perfect opportunity to bail.
Like I said I really related to this story though Rose is the hardest to understand she comes off as a bit of ungrateful snot and there are a few teenage moments that made me cringe but still felt very real. I think the best part was the end when everyone gets a little something of what they wanted but not everything. The whole book reads very quickly, peppered with Charlie's songs it gives it a little zest and in the end it feels very real.

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2012

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I love Crowley's writing. She is poetic without being pretentious and the voice in this book is just so strong and unique. Love it! Being a musician, I'm particularly fond of and critical of stories involving music. Once or twice, a musical reference made me go huh? It didn't detract from the writing or story at all but was a minor, personal irk (I don't think A minor can ever be sadder than E minor).

I want to read more by this author. I love the Aussie setting and the appreciate her no frills characters. Everyone should read Cath Crowley!

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Andi S. (Andi's ABCs)

Another Australian Gem!

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2014

This is another Australian gem suggested to me by my trusty reading friends that I would have never read if it weren’t for them. And shame on me for that. A Little Wanting Song (I have the tendency to say waiting for some reason) was an utterly enjoyable read about friendship and first love and growing up.

A Little Wanting Song is the story of Charlie Duskin, a shy girl that is good at one thing, music. With her grandmother’s recent passing and the grief of losing her mother years back, Charlie and her father go to the country to visit with her grandpa. But this visit will be different than any other visit Charlie can remember. With her father and grandpa still grieving Charlie starts spending time with the finicky girl next door, Rose Butler, who never wanted anything to do with Charlie in the past. But as the days go past and Charlie starts to break out of her shell and gets closer to Dave Robbie, the boy she has crushed on for years, Charlie finds out that Rose’s motives might not be as they seem and Rose will do anything to either get what she wants or to just be Charlie’s friend.

Have I mentioned that I loved this book? Because I did. The alternating voices of Rose and Charlie were the perfect way to go with this story as it showed their alternating personalities in a way that only two voices could. And as different as these girls were I loved getting to know them and I really liked them. Charlie seemed to blossom as she get herself open up and be herself and not so shy. She was weird like Dave told her time and time again, but she was a good weird, a weird that is interesting and makes you want to know more. And Rose on the other hand was a girl that was just trapped. She wanted to get out and was ready to do whatever it takes to make that happen, but as she started to open herself she started to realize that just because someone was different didn’t mean you couldn’t be friends with them. Both girls, over a few short weeks, blossomed and became this characters that are not easily forgettable and won’t be for a long time.

And Dave. Oh how I loved Dave Robbie. He was just this quiet, sidekick like guy, that would do anything for his friends even at his own expense. He didn’t mind being made fun of or being the third wheel with Rose and her boyfriend Luke. And he was this lanky, gorgeous thing that was humble about it. Watching him talk to Charlie was probably my highlight of the book because it was so awkward and uncertain but sweet and entertaining at the same time. He would often say the wrong thing or say something in the wrong way only to be told by Rose that he was messing up. It was really endearing.

Basically this book was just a bundle full of joy. It dealt with some heavier stuff, but Crowley’s writing made it not seem so emotional and you couldn’t help but root for these characters. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, but there is just something magical about Australian publications. A definite must read.

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A Very Merry Shakespeare

A Little Wanting...Makes you want more!

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2010

Rose and Charlie are about as different as two teenage girls can get...or, at least that's how it seems on the surface of things. Charlie lives in a city and goes to a large school. Her life has the requisite hustle and bustle; Rose, on the other hand, lives in a very rural village with nothing to do but (as my grandfather always said) watch the leaves fall and the cars rust).

At the beginning of this beautifully-written story, Charlie is in a car headed to the rural town where her grandfather lives. In the car with her is her father - a professional chef who has lines of people standing outside his restaurant begging for his food. She also has her mother in the car, but her ghost is something that only Charlie can see and hear. She feels out of place...always has. She's a quiet girl who want nothing more than to talk to her two best friends - her deceased mother and grandmother - and write songs to play them on her guitar that she always carries with her like a security blanket. Dad has taken time off work to go help grandpa - to see if the old man is doing okay, help him with his small store and cafe, and try to breathe some life back into a man who has lost his true love.

Rose is sitting on the hill looking down on the highway. It''s where she always sits, seeing the people flee her small town and look forward to the road in front of them. She is a girl who feels stuck in a life that she doesn't want, trying to get some kind of future for herself that would take her far away from her small world. The one thing she really enjoys is her teacher at school. Rose has studied hard and she loves to do well. She's done so well, in fact, that she's won a scholarship to go to a big city school for her last two years. She is so excited, but her mother puts the kybosh on her dreams fairly quickly. Mom is the manager of a trailer park, and wants her daughter to quit school like everyone else, get married, have kids, and settle for the rural way of life.

When Rose sees Charlie's car coming into town, she remembers the girl from previous years when she visited her family. Rose never liked Charlie. She always seemed like such a strange girl - never opening her mouth; staring at Rose and her friends; and, walking through town with that guitar on her back like some wayward folk singer. But this year is different. This year, in Charlie, Rose sees a ticket out of the boring, mundane horror of her own life - she sees a friendship ready to be formed so that she can hitch a ride to the big city.

Luke is Rose's boyfriend, and Dave is her best friend. Luke is one of those boys that you love, but you also wish had more to offer the world than cutting school and bad jokes. Although she cares for him, he is a boy that will be eternally stuck in the small, nowhere town because he has no ambition or desire to see anything else the world has to offer. So, not only will Rose have to leave Luke eventually - she'll also have to find a way to tell him without breaking his heart. Dave, her best friend, is a tad bit different. He's quiet and shy, yet the handsomest boy in town. And soon Dave finds himself attracted to Charlie - wanting at times to tell her that he believes his best friend Rose is just using Charlie "to get out of town."

The author does a beautiful job of explaining different cultures, and the old adage that "the grass is always greener." Being from a horribly small town in rural CT, myself, I completely understood the way Rose felt. In fact, she had even more than I did because I would've had to walk at least fifty miles to even find a highway out of my little snow-ridden corner of boredom. :) The lovely relationships between father and daughter; granddaughter and grandfather; the heart of the family as members go up to heaven and leave the rest behind to fend for themselves; young love; the start of a tentative friendship - all of these components are done so well that you find yourself immediately identifying with one or more of the characters right off the bat. This is one YA that will speak to adults, and is a powerful story that teaches us all to enjoy life and never stop looking forward to the road ahead. Enjoy!

Until Next Time,
AmyLignor, [...] Reviewer

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Amazon Kunde

Beautiful book about friendship, music and family issues

Reviewed in Germany on February 12, 2017

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This is such a beautiful book. I feel really emotional now I've finished it. I might still cry. And not, because it's a sad book, it's not at all, but because it's so raw and real and beautiful and I wish all books were written like this.
This book is about Charlie (Charlotte) who is shy and writes songs and who doesn't get noticed by anyone. It is also about Rose who is definately not shy and who's smart and who can't wait to leave the place where she grew up behind. Every year Charlie visits her grandfather for a few weeks and for the past ten years she has watched Rose and her friends, wishing to fit in. Rose has spent ten years ignoring her. But Charlie is leaving for the city at the end of summer and she might just be Rose's ticket out of town.
This book is about friendship and being yourself and music and standing up for yourself and about grief and love and a lot about family. My favourite aspects were definately Charlie's and Rose's problems with their families. The writing style is absolutely beautiful, as well as the song lyrics between some chapters. The music aspect and the writing reminded me a bit of Jandy Nelson's books only this is a million times better. The writing's better, the story is better and the focus isn't so much on the romance as it is on the family issues. Basically, it's just a great book.

Michelle Cardozo

Discover its beauty for yourself!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2012

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I was a fan after reading Graffiti Moon earlier in the year and on the strength of that book and after seeing a smattering of positive reviews for this book, I decided to buy A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley. And straight away, I fell in love with the feel of this book and the beautiful way in which Cath Crowley unravels this story of friendship and wanting and romance for us.

A Little Wanting Song is told in two narratives. The first is Charlie Duskin, a musician who sings only for herself in darkened rooms. She's dealing with the loss of both her mother and her gran and the consequences of these losses has made Charlie's father pull away from her entirely. What Charlie really wants is for her father to talk to her, take some notice of her. What makes things worse for Charlie, is that she doesn't really have anyone else is her life. She wants love and a boyfriend, but she also wants friendship - an emotional connection with somebody, anybody.

And then there's Rose. She lives next door to Charlie's grandparents, but Charlie and Rose have never been friends. Rose has her boyfriend Luke and another friend, Dave Robbie and a fairly good life in the country. But Rose wants more. She wants to live in the city and go to a private school and have more in her life than her mother has had. She doesn't want to end up pregnant and be forced into a job that doesn't challenge her. And Rose believes that the only way to do this is by befriending Charlie Duskin in the hopes that when Charlie's family leaves for the summer back to Melbourne, Rose will be with them.

I really loved this story. Both girls have such strong feelings of longing that it's hard not to become emotionally involved in both of their stories. I found myself more connected to Charlie's story. I could really relate to the way in which Charlie holds herself away from people and instead watches from afar. She seems to hide within her music and she holds onto her Gran and to her mother by continuing to speak to them long after they've been truly gone. I found it heartbreaking the way in which Charlie's father barely speaks to her or acknowledges her presence. I really liked Charlie's relationship with her grandfather and also how she seemed to grow in confidence over the course of the novel. Some of Charlie's insights into herself, her family and life around her are so beautiful.

And Rose. I really just wanted her to be a little more open with the truth when it came to befriending Charlie. She's got a bit of an attitude and she's said some mean things about Charlie over the years, but it was still nice to see how much Rose changes too. She has to be held a bit accountable for the 'Charlie Dorkin' song and there's plenty of ups and downs in her relationships Luke and Robbie. I liked that she's a girl interested in science and can also see how lucky she is and how much she has by the end.

This is such a beautiful book and I don't feel as though I can do it justice in this review! I highly recommend that you pick up this book and discover its beauty for yourself.

Julia

"...but sometimes doing your own thing is fine. It’s the finest thing there is."

Reviewed in Germany on May 14, 2014

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Nach Graffiti Moon wollte ich unbedingt weitere Bücher von Crowley lesen und bin jetzt endlich dazu gekommen, mich an A Little Wanting Song ranzuwagen.

In diesem Buch geht es um zwei Mädchen, die unterschiedlicher eigentlich gar nicht sein könnten. Charlie besucht wie in jedem Jahr ihren Großvater um zusammen mit ihm und ihrem Vater das erste Weihnachten ohne ihre Großmutter zu feiern. Bis jetzt wollte sie jedes Jahr, dass die Zeit dort so schnell wie möglich vorbei geht, da sie ohnehin nichts anderes zu tun hat, als die drei Kids Rose, Dave und Luke zu beobachten. In diesem Jahr ist es allerdings anders. Rose bekommt die Möglichkeit auf eine perfekte Schule zu gehen, wären da nicht ihre Eltern, die ihr nicht erlauben, alleine in die Stadt zu ziehen. Da kommt ihr Charlie ganz recht, denn wenn sie sich mit ihr anfreunden würde, so wie es Roses Mutter schon seit Jahren möchte, könnte sie ja eventuell bei ihr in der Stadt leben und endlich aus dieser Kleinstadt verschwinden.

Charlie war mir so unglaublich sympathisch, da ich mich in vielen Situationen mit ihr identifizieren konnte. Sie ist wahnsinnig schüchtern und so unsicher, dass sie manchmal kein Wort heraus bekommt. Neben ihrer einzigen Freundin besteht ihr Leben eigentlich nur noch aus Musik. Sie spielt Gitarre, singt und schreibt auch Songs, von denen wir einige Texte zu lesen bekommen. So wie sich Graffiti Moon auf Graffiti beschränkte, ist es hier die Musik, doch beide Bücher haben Texte und Gedichte gemeinsam, die einen großen Platz in der Geschichte einnehmen. Charlie entwickelt sich im Laufe des Buches immer weiter, kommt aus sich heraus und beginnt irgendwann drauf zu pfeifen, was andere Leute von ihr denken.

"I’ve been trying so hard to fit in and do what everyone else is doing, but sometimes doing your own thing is fine. It’s the finest thing there is."

Ihre Beziehung zu ihrem Vater spielt auch eine große Rolle. Seit Charlies Mutter vor acht Jahren gestorben ist, scheint er sie gar nicht mehr so sehr wahrzunehmen und Charlie versucht hinter die Fassade ihres Vaters zu blicken. Sie selbst hat scheinbar so gut es geht mit dem Tod ihrer Mutter abgeschlossen, wenn man mal davon absieht, dass sie die Angewohnheit hat, mit ihrer toten Mutter und Oma zu sprechen.

"It’s not like I don’t have words in my head. I’m good with words. I’m great. On my own. In the dark. They come flooding. Somethimes I can’t sleep I’m swimming in so many words. It’s when I’m around some people that my entire vocabulary goes on vacation."

Neben den Kapiteln von Charlie gibt’s noch die von Rose, die ihr komplettes Gegenteil ist. Rose möchte einfach nur weg, raus aus dieser Kleinstadt, in der nie was los ist. Ihre Tage verbringt sie gewöhnlich mit Dave und ihrem Freund Luke und die drei geraten nicht selten in Schwierigkeiten. Charlie gegenüber benahm sich Rose in den letzten Jahren nicht unbedingt freundlich, bis sie in ihr einen Ausweg gefunden hat, aus ihrem Heimatort zu entkommen. Anfangs mochte ich sie deswegen nicht so sehr, da sie Charlie im Grunde nur ausnutzte, doch im Laufe des Buches verändert sie sich zum positiven. Doch auch Rose hat eine schwierige Beziehung zu ihrer Mutter, die lernen muss, ihre Tochter los zu lassen.

“You know the feeling you get when you’re homesick? Things are going great, and then all of a sudden your stomach’s saying, This isn’t the place you’re meant to be. That’s how I feel all the time.”

Neben Charlie und Rose gibt es dann noch Luke und Dave. Die Beziehung zwischen Rose und Luke fand ich etwas komisch, ich hatte nie so wirklich das Gefühl, sie wären zusammen. Glücklicherweise kann man später aber nachvollziehen, wieso Rose ihn so auf Abstand hält. Dave ist einfach ein super sympathischer Junge, der eher darauf achtet, was in einem schlummert und sich nicht von gutem Aussehen blenden lässt. Er hat mich auch des öfteren mal schmunzeln lassen, wobei es eigentlich von allen Charakteren solche Momente gab. Das Buch ist einfach perfekt, um darin einzutauchen und mit einem Lächeln wieder zurückzukehren. Es ist schön zu lesen, wie sich Freundschaften entwickeln, sich die Charaktere gegenseitig helfen, ohne dass sie es zum Teil selbst merken und Charlie endlich zeigt, was in ihr steckt. Nachdem ich das Buch gelesen habe freue ich mich auch schon richtig auf den Sommer. Denn obwohl die vier nicht unbedingt am erlebnisreichsten Ort wohnen (so wie ich, haha), finden sie doch meistens immer etwas, was sie tun können.

Wie schon bei Graffiti Moon ist es so, dass sich manche Gespräche wiederholen, nur eben aus der Sicht des anderen und auch hier empfand ich das nicht als störend. Was mich hier allerdings etwas gestört hat, waren die Rückblicke. Man erfährt viel von der Kindheit der vier Jugendlichen und manchmal war ich etwas verwirrt, da ich nicht mehr wusste, ob wir jetzt in der Gegenwart oder in der Vergangenheit sind. Vielleicht hätte Crowley diese durch einen Absatz oder einem extra Kapitel kennzeichnen sollen.

Fazit:

"It’s just A Little Wanting Song
It won’t go on for all that long
Jut long enough to say
How much I’m wishing for
Just a little more"

Wer liebenswerte Charaktere, wundervoll geschriebene Songtexte und ein glückliches Gefühl im Herzen haben möchte, sollte es mal mit A Little Wanting Song probieren. Ich konnte mich so gut in die Geschichte hinein versetzen und hatte nicht selten ein Lächeln im Gesicht. Alle Charaktere sind liebevoll gezeichnet und besonders die stillen unter uns, können sich vielleicht besonders mit Charlie identifizieren.

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Sarah (Feeling Fictional)

A Little Wanting Song

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2012

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When I read Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley earlier this year I loved her descriptive writing style and the way she was able to bring the paintings in the story to life. In A Little Wanting Song she does the same again but this time with music, I love the poetic feel to her writing and the way she pulls you into the story and makes you feel emotionally connected to the characters.

A Little Wanting Song is told from two different perspectives. First you have Charlie, a lonely young girl who is trying to cope with the loss of both her mother and grandmother. Her father has become withdrawn since her mother's death and her best friend is spending all her time with someone else so Charlie has become very isolated. She always goes with her father to stay with her grandparents in the country for the summer but since the death of her grandmother nothing feels the same and she is even more lost than ever. I felt so badly for Charlie, her pain and her loneliness were heartbreaking and I was desperate for her to find a way to reconnect with her father and make some new friends. To cope with her loss Charlie loses herself in her music, she works in a record shop and has an impressive collection of Cd's but she also plays the guitar and sings although only when nobody is around to hear her.

Our other main character is Rose who lives next door to Charlie's grandfather. Rose has a pretty good life, she has a boyfriend, Luke, who she loves and they spend most of their time with their good friend Dave. The boys are happy to follow Rose and go along with anything she wants and she enjoys making fun of Charlie whenever she is visiting. Rose has big ambitions though, she doesn't want to spend her whole life stuck in a small town, she wants to make something of herself and earning a scholarship to a school in the city is the first step towards achieving her goal. She knows that her parents will never let her go to the city alone though so she decides that her best option is to befriend Charlie so that she can return to the city with her and her dad.

I have to admit that I didn't like Rose at all to start with, she is the kind of character I love to hate and I was so angry at the way she had treated Charlie in the past. The fact that she befriended Charlie just because she saw her as a ticket to the city just made me even more annoyed with her. In spite of that I found myself warming to her almost against my will as I got to know her better. She puts on a tough face to the world but deep down she can be quite nice and caring and she did genuinely come to like Charlie once she got talking to her. I really enjoyed watching their friendship develop and I loved the way Charlie's confidence grew thanks to both Rose and Dave. I don't want to say too much about Dave but I think he was one of my favourite characters and I really liked the way he supported his friends and how he eventually came to stand up for himself.

A Little Wanting Song is a beautifully written coming of age story, a story about friendships, first love and learning who you are. It's a journey of loss, grief and betrayal but also about getting past those issues and starting to live your life. I enjoyed this book even more than Graffiti Moon and I can't wait to read more from Cath Crowley in the future.

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