This complex novel translated from the German tells the seemingly clichéd story of the rise and steep fall of a teenage pop star from humble beginnings, but there are many layers for readers who look beneath the surface. At age nine, she was smuggled into Germany from Croatia in her uncle’s amp case. Mira M., as she’s now know to her fans, writes lyrics that convey her wish to surpass generic stardom. But when her dead body is found, her tragedy seems like a familiar headline. The chapters are organized as “tracks” on a two-part CD, with music and music culture playing a prominent role in the text. The mystery surrounding Mira’s murder/suicide is explored through the perspectives of those who knew her best, in segments alternating between voices from the present and flashbacks. Melody, Rose, and Jackson are three who have differing thoughts on Mira’s life and death, in part due to their own tragic life stories of illegally emigrating from Ghana in a shipping container. With Mira, they grew up in and out of a homeless community, navigating a new life in Hamburg together. Also involved in the events leading up to Mira’s death is Kralle, a young woman whose relationship with the group is tenuous, and Zucka, the son of the record producer who “discovered” Mira. Doubt surfaces regarding the origins of Mira’s most famous lyrics in the eyes of her “frenemies,” exposing the heart of this multifaceted story about gains and losses of trust and identity. (Age 14 and older)

Mira M., the hot, new, young pop star, has been found dead, floating in the aquarium in her producer’s lavish apartment. Was she murdered, or was it suicide? This is a harsh, unromantic look at the music business and its effects on love, friendship, and musical integrity. It is told in CD-tracked chapters in which the stories of Mira (a refugee from the war in Croatia), Melody, Rosa, and Jackson (who stow away in a shipping container from Ghana), Kralle (their rescuer), and Zucka (the son of a music producer) intertwine as they all covet rock-star fame and fortune. CCBC Choices. ae

Originally published in German by Carlsen Verlag Germany, in 2005. Translated by Doris Orgel.

"I don't wanna be famous
I don't wanna be who you are
I don't wanna be a trademark
I don't wanna be a wannabe superstar

I wanna be infamous,
Incapable,
unfaceable,
untraceable..."

That's Mira M. And this is the story of her unforgettable life -- as a kid alone in a junkyard tire swing, to her escape from Croatia at age nine in a Marshall amp road case in the rear of her uncle Lou's van. A musician, he hands her the key to her future: a guitar.

When she's fourteen, Mira meets Melody, Rosa, and Jackson, three teens who stow away from Ghana in a ship-ping container and end up -- to their surprise -- in Hamburg, Germany. What stories they have! And what a story the four of them, plus Kralle (a little older and wiser) and Zucka (the record producer's son), share on the way to the fame that all of them covet -- except Mira, even after the MTV Awards show in Barcelona. Her song lyrics tell her truth.

But are they her lyrics? Her music? She swears so. But who listens, now that she's eighteen -- and dead?