I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the ON THE WAY TO BIRDLAND by Frank Morelli Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
Title: ON THE WAY TO
BIRDLAND
Author: Frank Morelli
Pub. Date: June 8th 2021
Publisher: Fish Out of Water Books
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 300
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, TBD, Bookshop.org
Summary
Self-proclaimed teenage philosopher Cordell Wheaton lives in a sleepy, southern town where nothing ever happens; not since his hero, jazz musician John Coltrane, left some seventy years earlier to “follow the sound.” Cordy’s life has been unraveling since the night his father and his brother, Travis, exploded on each other. The night Travis’s addiction transformed him from budding musician into something entirely different. The night Travis took his saxophone and disappeared. When Cordy’s father falls ill, the sixteen-year-old vows to reunite the Wheaton family. He embarks on a modern-day odyssey with forty bucks in his pocket and a dream to find his brother and convince him to be Travis again—by taking him to a show at Birdland Jazz Club in New York City, and reminding him of the common bonds they share with their legendary hero. Cordy’s journey is soon haunted by ghostly visions, traumatic dreams, and disembodied voices that echo through his mind. He starts to wonder if the voices are those of the fates, guiding him toward his destiny—or if he’s losing his grip on reality.
Praise for ON THE WAY TO BIRDLAND
“Engrossing story and sympathetic characters. Morelli…makes it worth the trip.”—Booklist
“With a haunting secret, a brave journey and fascinating
characters, On the Way to Birdland will remind readers that
when you take a giant step into the unfamiliar, you might just find
yourself.” —Joelle Charbonneau,
New York Times Best Selling author of VERIFY and DISCLOSE
“On the Way to Birdland is a work of tremendous heart.
It sings with the joys and pains of family, hope, and impossible dreams.
A must read for everyone trying to find their way back to what matters most.”—Adrienne Kisner, Author
of DEAR RACHEL MADDOW, THE CONFUSION OF LAUREL GRAHAM,
and SIX ANGRY GIRLS
“Listening to and believing in our fears keeps away from a life we wish
for. On the Way to Birdland shows us what’s possible when we
listen to something else.”—Angelo
Surmelis, author of THE DANGEROUS ART OF BLENDING IN
“With balance, beats, and rhythm, this heartfelt coming-of-age story is
bridged together like a Coltrane riff under Frank Morelli’s skillful hand. ON
THE WAY TO BIRDLAND and its cast of diverse, fully fleshed-out characters are
now included among My Favorite Things.” –Brenda Rufener, Author of SINCE
WE LAST SPOKE and WHERE I LIVE
“A classic tale of choice and chance, with more twists than a Virginia
mountain road, On the Way to Birdland is a guide to finding
your true self by accepting that you are ‘completely destructible…desperate not
to get destroyed.'” —Valerie Nieman,
author of TO THE BONES and BACKWATER (Fitzroy,
2022)
Book Trailer
Guest Post
My Top Five Novels of All Time
By Frank Morelli
When you write novels and teach literature for almost twenty years, it’s hard to narrow down your list of favorites to just five, but I’ll give it a try. After all, these are the books that shaped the person I am today and that continue to provide me with guidance and inspiration on my current work. I hope you’ll pick up a copy of one of these classics as soon as possible if you haven’t read them already, because classic literature is not dead...it’s just taking a brief hiatus.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
S.E. Hinton’s debut novel, written when she was only sixteen years old, is THE book that made me fall in love with reading when I was growing up. It also happens to be one of the original prototypes for what we now call the young adult genre. When I was younger, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was that attracted me to this novel, but I’m now certain it’s because of the unique and authentic narrative voice of Ponyboy Curtis. I love voice. If I can hear a narrator’s voice in my head long after putting the book down, I’m basically in love. I think the voice of Ponyboy plays on a loop in the minds of many young adult authors. Certainly mine. The desire to be able to create a voice like the one created by S.E. Hinton was definitely one of the main factors that inspired me to become an author.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
There seems to be much controversy surrounding this classic novel, but there shouldn’t be. It’s a dazzling beauty of a work with a trial scene modeled after historical events that resemble the Scottsboro Boys trial. The book was a key work of the Civil Rights Movement, it called out white people on their ass backwards viewpoints and biases, and introduced us to one of the greatest and most complex characters in literary history: Atticus Finch. I will never stop reading and teaching this essential novel in American Literature. Please, read it for yourself before you pass judgement...which happens to be a central theme of the novel, btw.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
This is a near perfect novel for me simply because of how precisely Mary Shelley nails down on the ethical and moral questions of who gets to control life and who gets to play God? The Frankenstein monster, unlike the weird green dude we see at Halloween parties, is potentially one of the most surprisingly sympathetic characters in literary history.
The Odyssey by Homer
I may have been the only high school student in history who loved reading Homer’s epic poem from ancient times that features the Greek hero Odysseus, the fallout from the Trojan Wars, and a million legendary mythical gods and monsters. I love the story so much that half of my body is tattooed in various tales from the ordeals of Odysseus, and I didn’t waste time building on key ideas from Homer’s work in my new novel, On the Way to Birdland. I know the poem is not an easy read, but the reflection of human nature provided in each of Odysseus’s many adventures are not only still relevant today, but they find their way into much of the modern literature we see sitting in bookstores and in libraries at this very moment.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
I know this is a play and, therefore, not technically a novel, but I just can’t get enough of the story of the Younger family in pursuit of their version of the American dream. From the very first page of the script, one that is adorned with the famous Langston Hughes poem commonly referred to as “A Dream Deferred”, I am hooked on the seminal question that Hansberry seems to pose: How do we really define the American dream and is it truly accessible to all groups of people? For the Youngers, a family living during the 50s on the Southside of Chicago, their dreams are contingent on the death of a family member and the insurance check that follows which nearly tears the family apart until they remember what’s truly important to them. Add in the fact that legendary actor Sidney Poitier plays the lead role in the original production of the play and you’ve got yourself one of the greatest works of art in American history.
About Frank Morelli
Frank Morelli is the author of the
young adult novel, No Sad Songs (2018), a YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant
Readers nominee and winner of an American Fiction Award for best coming of age
story. The first book in his debut middle grade series, Please Return To:
Norbert M. Finkelstein (2019) is a Book Excellence Award finalist and provides
young readers with a roadmap to end bullying. His fiction and essays have been
featured in various publications including The Saturday Evening Post, Cobalt
Review, Philadelphia Stories, and Highlights Magazine.
A Philadelphia native, Morelli now resides in High Point, NC with a brilliant
illustrator and his fur babies. Connect with him on Twitter @frankmoewriter and
on Instagram @frankmorelliauthor.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon
Giveaway Details
Tour Schedule:
Week
One:
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5/24/2021 |
Kickoff Post |
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5/25/2021 |
Excerpt |
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5/26/2021 |
Excerpt |
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5/27/2021 |
Instagram Post |
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5/28/2021 |
Guest Post |
Week Two:
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5/31/2021 |
Review |
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6/1/2021 |
Guest Post |
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6/2/2021 |
Review |
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6/3/2021 |
Review |
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6/4/2021 |
Review |
Week Three:
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6/7/2021 |
Review |
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6/8/2021 |
Review |
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6/9/2021 |
Excerpt |
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6/10/2021 |
Excerpt |
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6/11/2021 |
Excerpt |
Week Four:
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6/14/2021 |
Excerpt |
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6/15/2021 |
Excerpt |
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6/16/2021 |
Guest Post |
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6/17/2021 |
Excerpt |
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6/18/2021 |
Excerpt |
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