The Rehearsal Club

Gr 5 Up–Pal (short for Paloma) has just moved to New York City from Arizona with her parents, and it’s a big adjustment. Her older sister Naomi already lives in the city as a resident of “The Rehearsal Club,” a women’s boardinghouse for aspiring performers. A budding comedienne, Pal, 12, loves the club and dreams of living in such a place where there are supportive friends, humor, and all things performance. Naomi sneaks her little sister into the club as an unsanctioned guest. Pal is supposed to lay low and not attract attention to herself, but, in her usual way, she ignores all directives and stumbles upon a mystery surrounding a former resident. Why did Posy get kicked out of the house back in 1954? In a series of back-and-forth chapters between that year and the present, the book introduces readers to Posy’s roommate Olive, and are gradually drawn into their story. This book is a delightful collaboration of two authors who know a lot about show business, and the cast of characters is diverse. One character uses they/them pronouns and is an introvert, characteristics that are nicely integrated into the storyline. Along with a pleasantly satisfying conclusion, the book includes an afterword that explains the real Rehearsal Club and its role in NYC theater.