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Reviewed by:
  • Five, Six, Seven, Nate! by Tim Federle
  • Thaddeus Andracki
Federle, Tim. Five, Six, Seven, Nate! Simon, 2014. [304p]. Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4424-4693-9 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4424-4696-0 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 5-8.

When readers last saw Nate Foster, the Broadway-obsessed, small-town thirteen-year-old protagonist of Better Nate than Ever (BCCB 2/13), he’d just answered a phone call from a casting director with bated breath. Now Nate is on his way to live with his aunt Heidi in New York as understudy (well, second understudy) to the titular alien in E.T.: The Musical. Facing the disdain of the polished kids from performing arts schools, Nate instead befriends Asella, the adult who’s first understudy for E.T. When the actor playing Elliott suddenly loses his voice, Asella suggests Nate as a replacement and he suddenly finds himself thrust into the limelight as the star of the show. While this lacks the relational depth Nate gained with his family and Heidi’s roommate Freckles in the first volume, it instead provides a plot-driven, exaggerated exposé behind the scenes of a Broadway show that’s sure to entertain, and it continues to use Nate’s naïveté and the zany characters of the theater for laugh-out-loud levity. A surprise first (well, second) kiss, substantively described (like “an ice cube doused in diesel”), gives way to a very tween romance (“i like u or whatever too”) with the boy he’d formerly envied, providing additional spirit to the tale. Nate’s encore—an extravagant companion to Telgemeier’s Drama (BCCB 10/12)—will certainly be applauded by his loyal fan base. [End Page 265]

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