Tunes for a Small Harmonica

In this poignant and funny coming of age story set in early 1960s New York City, J.F. is sixteen, but not beautiful. Her mother calls her "Jacqueline" and says she dresses like a cab driver. Her father is mostly "In Conference". J.F. is forced to visit a therapist whose office smells like bananas. She smokes too much and is bored by life until two things happen. One, she falls in love with her English teacher, a pale, shy man working on a thesis about an obscure English poet. Two, her best friend gives her a harmonica. J.F. concocts a theory about her teacher's poverty and decides to help him by playing the harmonica in the street to raise money to send him to England. But, of course, disaster mostly results. It's lovely. It's about coming to terms with yourself, marching to the beat of a different drummer and doing your own thing. It's about the music you make yourself and carry with you throughout life.

This is such a wonderful book. Quirky, unique, moving, and VERY funny. I have re-read it many times. Barbara Wersba's writing style is so wonderfully funny. Can't recommend this book highly enough. , it is listed incorrectly on this site as being for baby-preschool. It is a YA fiction book, actually.

I found this book in a school library, and enjoyed it greatly. It starts with the apparently worn theme of adolescence and its endless ennui, but quickly takes off in a fresh vein with her learning to play a harmonica. I especially enjoyed the depictions of her therapy sessions with the psychiatrist who smelled of bananas and burst out with his own problems. There are several unexpected twists, but what I enjoyed the most was the sympathetic depiction of a believable and ultimately very lovable young woman. I recommend it highly.

I recently bought & re-read this book (at the age of 37) for the first time in 25 years. It holds up amazingly. An astounding tale of a female Holden Caulfield, a lovable outcast who pursues her anemic English teacher with a sincere, wholehearted, doomed obsession. The story's backdrop is fascinating as well - New York City in the mid-60s, hippie sensibilities beginning to show in the town but her own family mired in snooty Republican affluence. JF McAllister's parents are NOT proud of their androgynous, strong-minded, free-spirited daughter. But boy, they should be. This is a memorable, delightful, hilarious, agonizingly poignant book.