Dropping Beats

By: Nathanael Lessore

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's summary

"Funny, bursting with heart, goofy, wise, and did I mention–wildly wonderfully funny."—Jon Scieszka, First National Ambassador of Young People's Literature and Founder of Guys Read

A hilarious and heartfelt young YA comedy about the misadventures of an aspiring young rapper as he navigates school, family, and friendship.

Thirteen-year-old Growls (aka Shaun) is an aspiring (awful) rapper who hopes to enter this year’s Raptology competition with his best friend, Shanks (aka Zachariah). After all, what better way to land his crush (Tanisha) and get the respect he finally deserves than winning the contest and going viral?

But when a livestream practice goes epically wrong, the two friends do go viral—and not in the way they’d hoped.

Now the laughingstock of the school, Growls is sure he’ll never have another chance to date Tanisha. Even worse, Shanks has gone MIA, leaving him terribly alone.

But when Growls meets the new girl on the block (Siobhan), things don’t seem so terrible after all. And with some patience, a little luck, and a whole lot of practice, he just might win the Raptology competition and be a hero to both Siobhan and Shanks.

Either way, he’s ready for this. He’s steady for this. It’s comeback season and they call him comeback king for a reason.

©2025 Nathanael Lessore (P)2025 Little, Brown Young Readers

Critic reviews

Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal

Shortlisted for the Jhalak prize

"Funny, bursting with heart, goofy, wise, and did I mention–wildly wonderfully funny."—Jon Scieszka, First National Ambassador of Young People's Literature and Founder of Guys Read

“Hilarious and heartwarming, it's impossible not to love Growls and his raw, uplifting way of seeing the world. Deftly written and an incredible debut, DROPPING BEATS is pure joy and laughter.”—Beth Reekles, author of THE KISSING BOOTH