The Mozart Season by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Twelve year old Allegra is an exceptional violinist who spends the summer preparing for a prestigious competition where she will play Mozart's Fourth Concerto in D. As she learns to express the music she comes to learn a lot about herself. She begins by feeling like a "nothing" neither Jewish like her father nor Kansas farmer like her mother. Her emotional awareness grows during the summer and by the time school starts in the fall she realizes the many ways that everyone is connected. JES