This is a nice middle grade story about friendship and rising above adversity that takes place at a performing arts magnet school in Chicago. Bette has a beautiful voice but lost her will to sing when her mother died in a car accident until a women named Gabi moves in the apartment downstairs. Joe is at the school for hardship reasons. It is his neighborhood school. He needed to take care of his poor, single parent mother when she had lung problems. He is angry and he is a bully but he is a skilled woodcarver. He gets involved with a guy named Mike when he builds sets for the big school production. Andy and Vivi are twins. Vivi has been home schooled because her asthma was out of control. Now she is afraid to go back because the steroids have changed her appearance. Then she meets Dr. Raphael who starts her on a new treatment regimen. Dr. Raphael is also treating Joe's mother.
