In a pitch perfect follow up to last year’s Better Nate Than Ever (my review here), Tim Federle continues 13-year-old aspiring-actor Nate Foster’s pursuit of his musical comedy dreams in Five, Six, Seven, Nate! (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, January 2014). Now Broadway-bound, Five, Six, Seven, Nate! picks up roughly where the first book left off, with Nate arriving in New York City as part of the cast of the new Broadway musical inspired by the movie E.T. Federle continues to explore core middle grade themes of friendship, bullying, peer pressure, familial expectations, and growing self-awareness, against the backdrop of the theater world and with the same musical-comedy inspired feel as the first book.
Nate’s immediate family is even more removed and off-stage in this sequel, but Nate’s growing understanding and acceptance of their lack of support is more clearly and directly on the page. Federle allows the reader to experience Nate’s disappointment with his family’s lack of support with sufficient sadness to build empathy, but deftly shows that Nate’s growing acceptance of himself (and of them) will allow him to survive. Federle especially handles well the subtle layers in Nate’s relationship with his mother, who the reader can sense is proud of her son and wants to show her support, but whose expression of that love and support is complicated by his father’s not-so-subtle rejections.
Nate has left best friend Libby behind in Pennsylvania, caring for her ill mother and navigating seventh grade without her sidekick Nate (though Skype and texts keep Libby and Nate in contact, even as their relationship is tested by their mutual growth and changes). Nate is thrilled to have landed in his dream world, an actual member of the cast of a Broadway musical, surrounded by fellow theater-loving kids — boys even! — and understudying the role of E.T. But it’s not all that he expected it to be. There are still cliques, there are still bullies, sometimes adults have no idea what they are doing, sometimes friendships are confusing and people aren’t what they seem, and sometimes we have to face the limitations of our own capabilities. Federle mines the best bits for humor, adds a dash of secret-admirer mystery, and gives Nate sufficient material to grow with each challenge. Readers will be with him through every set back, and cheering his every triumph.
Like in Better Nate Than Ever, moments may stretch the suspension of disbelief — especially the book’s musical-worthy climax. But Nate is so easy to root for that disbelief barely stands a chance. And it continues to feel like those magic moments intentionally mirror the larger-than-life musicals Nate adores.
And sometimes life is like a Broadway musical, and magical things happen. Sometimes the leading boy does, well, get the boy.
While I had concerns while reading the first half of the book that the clearly self-accepting Nate from Better Nate Than Ever seemed to be sliding back into questioning or denial about his sexuality, the second half of the book organically explores Nate’s romantic interests in an age-appropriate manner and to a more than satisfying conclusion. In fact, as a whole, Five, Six, Seven, Nate! does an excellent job of allowing Nate to grow and mature in ways that show his emerging sexuality does not define him or act as an all-encompassing force in his life. For the majority of the book he is, appropriately, far more concerned about his diminishing role in the show, the fast-paced and foreign theater world, family issues and friendships. And yet, Federle doesn’t shy away from Nate’s sexuality, allowing Nate the same moments we would expect in stories about kids growing into their romantic feelings about members of the opposite sex. Additionally, Federle allows Libby to be a true friend, sending signals to Nate that she seems him clearly, and supports him, despite the potential for confusion between them.
Like with Better Nate Than Ever, in Five, Six, Seven, Nate! Federle has given young readers a young gay kid, awkward and stumbling through life, and maybe through shows, but refreshingly clear about who he is and what he wants.
*** As a bonus, check out the newly-released trailer for Five, Six, Seven, Nate!.