Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2021
400 pages
Genre: Poetry & Novels in Verse
Publication Information
A ripped-from-the-headlines novel of ambition, music, and innocence lost, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Jason Reynolds!
Be bold. Get seen. Be Heard.
For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown.
So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean "Mercury" Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies the girls have to tell are all worth it.
Until they're not.
Denver begins to realize that she's trapped in Merc's world, struggling to hold on to her own voice. As the dream turns into a nightmare, she must make a choice: lose her big break, or get broken.
Inspired by true events, Muted is a fearless exploration of the dark side of the music industry, the business of exploitation, how a girl's dreams can be used against her -- and what it takes to fight back.
"Denver's voice is unique, delicate, and written from the point of view of a relatable teen girl who struggles with her identity. Readers are advised of themes that may be triggering such as 'rape, eating disorders, abuse, manipulation, and divorce.' These themes are worth exploring and may teach readers that these tragedies can happen to anyone...Hand this to fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Tiffany D. Jackson." - School Library Journal (starred review)
"Heart-racing...[a] taut and gritty read." - Booklist (starred review)
"The powerful, smoothly flowing text will drive readers to seriously challenge the societal vulnerabilities and toxic ideologies that leave girls of color open to sexual violence and harm. Themes of friendship, family, cultural inheritance, and taking a stand are strong throughout. This novel ripped from the headlines is a necessary reckoning that amplifies the voices of Black and brown girls." - Kirkus Reviews
"Though the novel includes potentially triggering subjects such as sexual assault, it's an eye-opening narrative that spotlights the uneven power dynamics endemic in the music industry." - Publishers Weekly
"One of those books that when you finish, you stare at it for a little bit and need a moment before you can do other things – it is that good." - Buzzfeed
This information about Muted was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tami Charles is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books for young readers, including the picture book All Because You Matter (illustrated by Bryan Collier) and the novels Muted, Like Vanessa, and Becoming Beatriz. In her teens and early twenties, Tami enjoyed a taste of fame as a member of an all-girl R&B trio. They performed for Boyz II Men, BET, and Showtime at the Apollo, and had a one-hit wonder on the radio. After college, Tami worked as an educator for thirteen years before pursuing her childhood dream of becoming an author.
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