January 6, 2026 by Clarion Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
When Jason decides to put together a band, he informs his best friend Sean that their new names will be Metallic Z and Half-Lo, respectively, and together they form Gormax. Gormax will embrace the musical philosophy of John Cage, who in 1952 performed a piece entitled “4’33” that was essentially silence. Jason, aka Metallic Z, argues that in the current age of noise, this style would gain new appreciation. He seems to be right. With the help of Chase Stravinsky, their eleven year old agent (nicknamed White Socks), the boys inform their parents, and school principal, Mr. Kidman, that they will be dropping out of school. Soon, Chase has them booked for a gig in Cologne, Germany and billetted in a fancy hotel. Their performances involve a lot of swaying to silence with “implied feelings”. They are a hit, and find themselves in a wide range of European and world cities, performing and eating copious amounts of junk food. Chase arranges for them to be joined by a girl from Tulare, near their hometown of Visalia, California, and soon Samantha (who changes her name to Skylark), and her cockatiel, Zep (who can play a tiny harmonica), are gathering even more fans than Gormax. From wearing kilts in Scotland to having Cal Tech name a planet after the band, the two friends have a kaleidoscope of goofy experiences. But, like many band stories, theirs soon has an end. Skylark, who has developed a crush on Principal Kidman’s daughter, Priscilla, quits the band after Zep goes missing. Gormax struggles to gather audiences at progressively smaller venues, and when Chase’s investments literally sink (the island with their Bitcoin goes down), the two return home. Principal Kidman makes them repeat seventh grade, which they do willingly, and there is a happy ending for Skylark and Priscilla, as well as Zep.
N. B. This is considered a "modern fantasy" and is purposefully silly and over the top, according to the publisher. It is very different from Soto's other work.
Strengths: Readers who enjoy goofy, nonsensical adventures that are told in a slap dash, episodic, non sequitur style will revel in Gormax’s pell mell exploits. Perhaps aimed at attention spans more used to TikTok videos than connected prose, this story feeds readers a constant stream of places, people, and anecdotes, sometimes within the same paragraph. It’s also a lesson in wish fulfillment; the boys are supposed to keep up with school work, but do so only cursorily, find the skateboards that were stolen from them when they were ten in a huge pile in Amsterdam, have pizza delivered to their hotel by robots, and get a chance to travel the world. This is a fairly happy tale, with no time for introspective navel gazing or processing of grief, even when the band’s run comes to an end, which sets it apart from the current middle grade trend of depicting anxious characters processing loss.
Weaknesses: Gormax’s initial appeal is a focus on silence and body consciousness, which is an interesting premise, but the addition of Skylark and Zep, with their more traditional performances, negates this. There was significantly less cohesive plot and compelling character development than is generally found in novels for children.
What I really think: Like Soto’s 2023 Puppy Love, Gone Viral shows a significant change in style for Soto’s work. If you are a fan of Soto’s books like Taking Sides, Baseball in April and Other Stories, and Fire in My Hands, I would read this before purchasing for a school library, as it is more reminiscent of Kinney’s Wimpy Kid books or Daniel Pinkwater’s chaotic adventures.
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