In the Key of Dale

De: Benjamin Lefebvre

Narrado por: Michael Crouch

A friend at high school is the last thing Dale wants—which is why it may be what he most needs.

Part comedy, part grief narrative, In the Key of Dale is a disarming coming-of-age novel about a queer teen music prodigy who discovers pieces of himself in places he never thought to look.

Sixteen-year-old Dale Cardigan is a loner who’s managed to make himself completely invisible at his all-boys high school. He doesn’t fit with his classmates (whom he gives nicknames in his head), his stepbrother (whom nobody at school knows he’s related to), or even his mother (who never quite sees how gifted a musician Dale might be)—but they don’t fit with him, either. And he’s fine with that. To him, high school and home are stages to endure until his real life can finally begin.

Somewhat against his will, he befriends his classmate Rusty, who gets a rare look at Dale’s complex life outside school, but their friendship is made awkward when Dale is uncertain whether his growing attraction to Rusty is one-sided. Still, it’s to Rusty that Dale turns when he stumbles upon a family secret that shakes everything he thought he knew.

An epistolary novel written in the form of letters to his late father, In the Key of Dale is a beguiling, pitch-perfect book about growing up, fitting in, and finding a way out of grief and loneliness toward the melodic light of adulthood.

Ages 14 and up.

©2022 Benjamin Lefebvre (P)2022 Spotify Audiobooks

A sweet and imperfect protagonist

This book starts slow (and I mean really, really slow), but it comes into its own at the hands of Crouch’s excellent narration. He really is so skilled. Would have liked more Dale and Rusty denouement, but still a satisfying and well written ending. I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I thought I would. Let’s do a Dale and Rusty sequel?