A 12-year-old white girl is determined to fulfill her dream of becoming a country-music star.Maya lives in Nashville and is determined to make it big in music, so she is thrilled when cute, white schoolmate Jack asks her if she will be his singing partner for the upcoming local auditions of the reality TV show Dueling Duets. Then her parents inform her that they have bought an RV and are selling their house, and the family will be traveling around the country. Maya is devastated. Not only will she miss the audition with its chance for fame, but what if Jack forgets her? While Nalls writing is competent, Maya is a thin protagonist. Her first-person, present-tense narration reiterates her desire to get back to Nashville so often that readers may be tempted to yell we know! after the umpteenth time. She continually texts her friend Kenzie, ignoring the natural beauty of the national parks that the RV is traveling through, to hatch surprisingly immature plans to get back to Nashville. By the end of the story, Maya develops a smidgen of awareness that her self-absorbed actions have negatively affected others, but this denouement is nearly neutralized by the storys ongoing plot assumption that 12-year-old females relate their self-worth to the approval of others, whether it be fame or boysa tired, unempowering notion. Misses the mark. (Fiction. 8-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Aspiring country singer Maya, twelve, is devastated when her parents trade their house in Nashville for an RV, forcing Maya to leave behind her best friend and a country music reality show audition. An unbelievable, drawn-out plot centers on whiny, unlikable Maya and her attempt to bike/bus home from Yellowstone National Park; efforts to convey the park's natural beauty fall flat. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Dad putters up to our house . . . grinning like he just watched the Tennessee Titans win the Super Bowl and that's when I know he's completely lost it. Maya's only warning that her life is about to be shaken like a rug comes when she hears the approach of the RV soon to be known as Bertha, while she practices for the country music reality TV show Dueling Duets. After Maya's father lost his job, her parents talked about moving, but this? This is camping all the time! Maya does everything she can to impede their departure but is forced to hit the road. While her parents envision blazing a swath across the country, Maya begins scheming, determined to make it back to Nashville for her audition. Like many travelers before her, however, Maya's resistance wanes as the road starts to teach its lessons. This quirky and entertaining coming-of-age story is perfect for middle-grade readers, with enough realistic family dynamics, sarcasm, adventure, and music to keep them entertained until the closing number.--Oppelt, Meghan Copyright 2016 Booklist