This compelling narrative tugs at the heartstrings, following the journey of a young girl, Lou, who resides in a car with her mother, constantly evading the scrutiny of family services. Unable to attend school due to the risk of unwanted inquiries, Lou finds solace in occasional gigs where she showcases her musical talent to help make ends meet.

However, when a snowstorm leads to a revealing accident, Lou's hidden life is exposed, resulting in her placement in a foster home. Transitioning from caretaker to cared-for, Lou discovers she has a sensory processing disorder, explaining her aversion to crowds and touch. Through this new environment, she learns to trust and experience love.

The book's well-crafted narrative and rich character development draw readers into Lou's struggles, eliciting empathy and a desire for her well-being. Despite conflicting emotions about her separation from her mother, readers recognize the necessity for a stable caregiver in Lou's life. With its poignant themes and relatable protagonist, this story serves as a poignant and valuable resource for middle-grade readers, particularly those navigating sensory processing disorders.

This is a well written book, but ultimately I just don't think it's a good fit for my student population.

As a special education teacher I LOVED this book. Representation is so important and I love Lou so very much. This book is perfect for middle grade readers and I believe gives voice to those that are often times under-represented in books. I highly recommend this for middle grades and up. Even adults can learn so much from this.

Thank you to NetGalley for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Crowds, loud noises, and touching make Lou feel terrified, or maybe just weird. Either way, she doesn't like them. In spite of all this, her mother wants Lou to share her beautiful voice. After a car crash, Lou is separated from her mother by Child Services. Her aunt and uncle move her to a fancy, new private school. She has to start all over, but a new friend and school counselor help her see things are not what she always thought. Music has power, maybe enough to help her and her mom.

A great middle grade story told with love and acceptance. Lou has a lot going on. Seeing things through her eyes will help kids who have little experience being unhoused or dealing with parents struggling with mental health. SPD stories are too few and far between. I am glad to have this one!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing and Atheneum Books for Young Readers for an advance copy of Tune It Out. This was a beautifully written story about a acceptance, perseverance, understanding, and love. As a special education teacher, I'm always a little skeptical about books where the main character has a disability. They often seem to be portrayed in a cheesy, fluffy kind of way. Tune it Out is not that kind of book. Jamie Sumner creates a character with Sensory Processing Disorder that feels real and authentic. I also enjoyed the way she provided the perspective of Lou's mother and her skepticism of her daughter being "labeled." I see this often in my job and I felt that Sumner got the parent protectiveness just right. The characters are relatable and realistic. I enjoyed every moment of Tune it Out, as did my 10 year old daughter.

This is a great book for middle grades readers and would be good for a teacher read-aloud, as well. I was particularly engaged by the juxtaposition of the main character's beautiful singing voice and her sensory processing disorder. With the current buzz around neurodiversity in education, this book is both timely and relevant.

Tune It Out by Jamie Sumner is the close look at social anxiety and abandonment issues that many of our middle graders need. And, at an age when so many of them love to perform, they will relate to the performances of the protagonist.

This was an interesting story about a twelve year old girl and the difficulties she faced. Lou was cared for by her single mom who had to leave her home when she became pregnant at seventeen. Since that time, mother and daughter dealt with poverty and homelessness. But they had each other and loved each other. Lou had an exceptional singing voice, and her mom pushed Lou to sing in front of strangers. Lou loved music, but her invisible disability turned those experiences into a living nightmare. Lou knew she had problems such as unexpected/excessive noises, people touching her, fidgeting with things all the time, or being uncomfortable wearing new or stiff clothing. Her school teachers wanted her tested. Her mom refused and took her out of school.

Lou learned to drive when she 10, so her mom felt comfortable having Lou pick her up at the end of her night shift at the diner since there was no other transportation nearby. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a problem for Lou, but the weather conditions made it so and Lou ended up crashing the truck. This crashed altered Lou and her mom’s life. Lou was taken away and placed in temporary custody of her mom’s sister and husband.

I think the author did a good job in addressing Lou’s SPD (sensory processing disorder), not only related to her own life, but those around her. Her 6th grade classmate and friend, Well, offered understanding and support especially in a new school environment for Lou. I also like how the author showed the contrasting family home life of Lou and Maxwell. It showcased that money isn’t everything if you don’t have love, support, and happiness. Even though Lou had problems, she knew she was loved by her mother and now by her aunt and uncle.

This storyline dealt with many important topics such as SPD, homelessness, child neglect, poverty, friendships, trust, and family dynamics. I think middle school grade children will find this story interesting, inspirational, and entertaining.

Hello Again!

I am officially on my second nightstand stack of the year so far! I love making these stacks and picking books out of them to read. It’s also really nice to look at my shelves after and see all of the books I have read (when I put them back on the shelves after reading). Another book I picked up in January was Tune it Out! I had placed it in my nightstand stack and when I found myself reaching for a new book, I realized I had the audio book of this book on Libby at the time. So I thought that it was the perfect time to finally listen to this book! I pulled the book from the stack and started my read!

SPOILERS AHEAD

Lou lives with her mother, except Lou and her mother are mostly homeless, sometimes they live at the motel, but most of the time they live in the truck. Lou should be in school but she spends her time singing and playing guitar to help make money. That all changes when one day, Lou’s mom has to work and she asks Lou (who is definitely not old enough to drive), to come and pick her up. Lou has driven their truck many times before but this time is different there is a snow storm and the roads are awful and Lou has an accident. When Lou has this accident this calls a lot of attention to her living situation and CPS gets involved. From here Lou is sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Nashville who she really does not know. Lou starts to settle in and find a rhythm to her new life, it’s not easy but it’s new and nice. However, Lou will be faced with some really tough choices in the future.

I was not sure if I would love this book when I first picked it up. I had heard rave reviews from many other people who had the opportunity to read it but I was just unsure. However, once I started listening to the audio book I could not put it down. The audio book is fairly short (I think like 5-6 hours) and I listened to most of it in one day! I really wanted to listen to the end that same day, however, I had to do a few other things, so I picked up Lou’s story again right away in the morning. I really thought the author did a wonderful job with Lou’s story and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of my time with it.

Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

This was super cute! My students will love it. I especially love the representation for kids that are not neuro typical.

This book was SO good. I read it in less than 48 hours. Super good look into tons of tough topics but still a good and intriguing story. I really enjoyed this book and think it would be an eye opener for the perspective of a kid coming from a hard place who wants to go back to that hard place because that's all she knows. I would encourage foster caregivers and kinship caregivers to read it as well. As a foster mom, my only real concern was that they made it seem like Lou got over certain trauma behaviors rather quickly and without therapy which is not realistic.

One of the best books I've read this year! It deals with so many things, homelessness, neurodiversity, foster care, and more. I was immediately drawn in to Lou's life and hoped and prayed she would make it out ok. It is a necessary read. Would make an incredible read aloud for 4th-6th grade.

There need to be more books like this - dealing with Children with disabilities. I have a cousin with a sensory processing disorder and books like this help me to understand better. I love that the main character is more than their disability. This is so important for people to realize. Middle School is a difficult time any any kid's life.

I adored this story, the characters, how they cared for each other. It made me hopeful that this generation of kids will be so much more accepting allowing their fellow agemates to flourish in whatever makes them different.

Spectacular and adorable story that I will recommend to students! Even though this is geared towards middle grade, my friend read this book with her daughter who is in second grade and they both loved it as well!

Neurosensitivity, homelessness, and an inept mom who pushes her daughter's singing talent for money even though abrupt or loud sounds are emotionally painful. They are barely getting by, but the mom refuses to seek help of any kind. They live in their old vehicle, and one snowy night, events put Lou on a trajectory toward wellness, but she needs to learn to trust. Excellent character development and presentation of one girl's discovery of a family who cares for the wellbeing of both her and her mom.

I just reviewed Tune It Out by Jamie Sumner. #NetGalley. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Lou has a sensory processing disorder. She is 12 years old. She doesn't like loud noise or people touching her. Her mom makes her sing in public.
Lou and her mom live in their truck near Lake Tahoe. Lou is expected to drive the truck a few miles into town late at night to pick up her mom after work. One night, Lou gets into an accident. Child protective services get involved, and Lou is sent across the country to live with her aunt and uncle. She soon finds refuge in the family she hasn't seen in a long time. She finds advocates who help her realize that she has a sensory processing disorder and that it isn’t something to be ashamed of. Music may just be the one thing that saves Lou.

As a parent of a special needs mom, this book hits right at home. It’s a great book for a brother or sister to read if they have a sibling who has special needs. Thank you so much for helping bring awareness.

The main character, Lou, has an invisible disability that causes her to question what is wrong with her. Her mother believes Lou has what it takes to make it big as a singer, and pushes Lou to perform out of her comfort zone. When child services step in and separates Lou from her mother, her world gets turned upside down. Now she must learn how to navigate separation from her mother and living with her aunt and uncle, who she barely knows. Throughout the story you will cheer for Lou as she acclimates to a new school, makes new friends, and discovers who she is. In the end, Lou finds her true voice and stands up for what she wants.