The Audition (Stage Stars #1) (Penny McNamee, Scholastic)

The Audition, the first book in actor Penny McNamee’s Stage Star series, introduces us to Millie Von Trapp, an enthusiastic but lonely Year 6 student whose immediate family are all surf-mad, with no appreciation for Millie’s musical theatre adoration (fortunately, her doting grandma, once a star herself, understands her passion). Millie happens upon a poster advertising a local youth theatre club and persuades her parents to let her audition. When she is cast in the ensemble, her summer opens into a wonderful realm of possibility as Millie finds ‘her people’ for the first time, fitting into the welcoming theatrical community where her ADHD and ‘too much’ exuberance are no longer challenges. Even school bully Sophia Jekyll, cast as the lead (with Millie as understudy), can’t dampen the pure joy of rehearsals, learning about theatre and performing. In this wholesome (occasionally overly perky) story, McNamee’s own experience and genuine love of theatre shine through. It’s hard not to share Millie’s delight at finally feeling accepted, doing something she loves so much, supported by the kind-hearted producers (all cutely but implausibly named, conjuring a golden age—Ms Streisand, Mr Fosse, Mrs Midler) and warm, sweet, affirming friendships with other children in the cast. With echoes of Jean Ure or Maddie Ziegler in an Australian setting, and for those newer to the world of the stage, The Audition will suit readers aged 8 and up.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Anica Boulanger-Mashberg is a freelance editor and writer and a bookseller at the Hobart Bookshop. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Reviews