Out of Sync

Description: Lewis writes songs and sings. That's his main job in the band. So what will happen to the band when Lewis stops writing and singing?

Brief description: Keith Wain grew up on a small dairy farm in northern Minnesota. He teaches writing at several different colleges and universities and loves bookstores, music, forests, and sports. He lives with his wife, three sons, and dog in Otsego, Minnesota.

Review Quotes: Lewis, Zeedee, Oscar, and Soren are members of a band who practice together constantly and must work through several challenges as a team. In one story, Lewis and Zeedee decide to expand their duo by adding new band members. In another, Lewis gets a synthesizer, and the band struggles to stay in sync. Other challenges include the band figuring out how to blend different musical styles when their performances start falling flat, and band members discovering hobbies outside of the band. Vibrant illustrations fill each page, sometimes replacing text entirely, while the writing remains simple with short sentences to engage early readers. However, the sentence structure can feel stilted at times, and some plots are overly basic while others introduce conflicts too late, leaving them unresolved. VERDICT If your collection needs music-focused ­chapter books, this series will fit the bill, but it's not a must-have.-- "School Library Journal"