Victor is a music teacher and Glory is his star pupil. Pictures of her parents Victor and Maria, and baby pictures of Gloria and ‘pasted in’ cards and programs, give us a glimpse into a tight family unit. Then the story flashes back eighteen months to help us understand how her life has gone off the rails.Ĭhopsticks is a quick read, but that’s because much of the story is told through pictures: drawings and photographs.įor example, we learn about Glory’s childhood by flipping the pages of a family photo album. When Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral’s hybrid novel – more about that in a moment – opens, Glory is missing. The publisher provided me with a copy of this book to review.Sixteen-year-old Glory Fleming is a piano prodigy. I recommend Chopsticks for readers aged 14 and up. The combination of words, images and video create a compelling story through to the end. Readers can check out links to YouTube videos that highlight performances from the movie “Big” with Tom Hanks, Hoagy Carmichael playing the Chopsticks waltz and more. Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral use innovative storytelling techniques to keep you turning pages looking for clues to what happens to Glory and Frank. But when Glory is scheduled on a European tour and Frank’s grades spiral down, both begin to spin out of control. They start to spend time together, sharing playlists, texting each other, and hanging out. In high school a boy from Argentina move next door, and Glory’s life expands a bit. As she grows, her progress is send through recital programs from Carnegie Hall, articles in “The New Yorker,” and photos of Glory with her piano-teacher dad.

We see photos of her parents’ marriage, her pregnant mother, and notices of her mother’s death when Glory was only 8. and Europe, and she is renowned for her modern innovations on classical pieces.įrom this beginning, the story of what happened to Glory is slowly revealed through scrapbook cuttings, photos, drawings and more. Only 17 at the time, Glory has already played at top venues in the U.S. As Chopsticks opens, Glory Fleming, child prodigy that critics hailed as “the Brecht of the Piano,” has gone missing from the rest home where she was staying and being treated for exhaustion.

Chopsticks book jessica anthony