Unposted #audiobook reviews of 2016

As the year draws to a close, I realized that I've never posted several audio books that I've reviewed for AudioFile Magazine.

Here they are in no particular order (all titles are linked to my full reviews on AudioFile Magazine)

The Last Execution

by Jesper Wung-Sung 

 

A short YA title based on a true story.

"Surreal would be the best description of this book if only it were not based on truth. In 1853, Denmark exercised the death penalty for a final time, cleaving the head from 15-year-old Niels Nelson."  

A Necklace of Raindrops and Other Stories 

by Joan Aiken

"This collection of eight short stories contains gentle tales of fantasy and magic--not the magic of wizards and wands, but of wishing mats and enormous cats and gifts brought by the winds."

 

 

Lock and Key: The Gadwall Incident 

by Ridley Pearson 

 

"This audiobook is a prequel to the Lock and Key series, a contemporary revision of the Sherlock Holmes canon. "

 

Flying 

by Carrie Jones

 The first in a YA series.

"Kate Reinders narrates this campy story about Mana, a high school cheerleader who finds herself battling aliens in a quest to find her missing mom." 

 

 

Swing Sideways 

by Nanci Turner Steveson

 "Narrator Tara Sands realistically interprets a well-off teen's wry observations of her dysfunctional family and their friends.

 

A Big Dose of Lucky

by Martha Jocelyn 

YA series

"Part of the high-interest series Secrets, this audiobook includes support for reluctant readers through narrator Kelly Pruner's clear diction, easy pacing, and decidedly conversational tone."

Boom! (or 70,000 light years)

Haddon, Mark. 2010.Boom! (or 70,000 light years). New York: Random House.


According to the author's foreword, this book was first published in Great Britain in 1992 as Gridzbi Spudvetch! He was asked to update it for new publication and proceeded to change nearly every sentence in the book.  What resulted was Boom! (or 70,000 light years), a humorous, sci-fi, adventure story featuring James (or Jimbo), his 16-year-old sister Becky, his best friend Charlie, Mum and Dad, and a cast of jibberish spouting aliens.

Jim and Charlie are cut-ups at school, Becky is a rebellious teen with a boyfriend nicknamed Craterface.  Dad is an out of work tinkerer, fond of building model planes.  And Mum, well, after she nearly knocks out Craterface with her briefcase for threatening Jimbo, the story's narrator who is hiding in the bathroom, he emerges to shake Mum's hand and say,

"That was classy." At least there was one real man in the family.

He continues,

After all the commotion it turned into a surprisingly pleasant evening.  Dad spent so long in the shop, for fear of coming back and finding Craterface still in residence, that he'd done enough shopping for three weeks.  Toilet rolls, J-cloths, washing-up liquid, scouring powder, the works.  So Mum was happy.  And Dad was happy that Mum was happy.  And I was happy that Mum and Dad were happy with each other.  Plus, Becky was really unhappy, which always cheered me up.  And anyway, she just stayed in her room, sulking, so we had a very nice time indeed.

The reader will have to get used to the many British terms and occasional spelling differentials (licence for license). Most words can be figured out contextually, but one sent me scurrying for an Internet browser,

I dreamed of duvets and hot breakfasts, big jumpers and radiators.

Jumpers are apparently the British term for sweaters.  I wouldn't have guessed that one.

Boom! is full of non-stop action from the first alien encounter at school to the boys' eventual trip to the planet, Plonk.  Fun, fast, and full of humor, there's still a message to this story - big teenage sisters aren't as bad as you think and of course, there's no place like home!

Read an excerpt.
Here's an interview with author, Mark Haddon.  In it, he doesn't discuss Boom!, however, I was pleased to hear that he and I share The Wind in the Willows as one of our favorite children's books.

A side note - Mark Haddon is also the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, 2010's One Book NJ choice for adult readers.

Share |

The True Meaning of Smekday

Rex, Adam. 2007. The True Meaning of Smekday. New York: Disney Hyperion.

Gratuity (her mother didn't realize that it meant "tip") had a homework assignment,

Write an essay titled
THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY.

What is the Smekday holiday? How has it changed in the year since the aliens left?

The winning essay will "be buried with the National Time Capsule, which will be uncovered one hundred years from now."

Fast forward to 2114 and read Gratuity (Tip) Tucci's essay (both the official and extended versions) and find out what happened when the Boov invaded the Earth, or Smekland, as they prefer to call it.

Tip falls in with a renegade Boov, who goes by the name of J.Lo. Together (with her cat, Pig) they go in search of her mother, who has been relocated with the other humans to Florida (No, scratch that, Arizona), in a floating car called Slushious.

Despite the language barrier,

I awoke in the afternoon to find a note from J.Lo saying he'd gone ahead to Vicki's to eat soap. Actually, it just said "JLO(BiKi5OP," but I thought that was pretty good.

J.Lo's interesting method of explanations,

Let us say , after televisions are invented, that there is only then a few channels. Three or four. We will call them, A, G, Semicolon, and Pointy.

and the great technological differences between the two,

I scattered J.Lo's tools around the car, searching for some kind of rope, or something that could be used like a rope. I should have paid more attention to anything that looked like a pencil sharpener made of lemon Jell-O that, when cranked, would spit out superstrong yarn that smelled like ginger ale. I only mention this because J.Lo really did have such a thing. He told me so later,

Tip and J.Lo are a formidable duo. But can they save the Earth? And who are they saving it from?

The True Meaning of Smekday is laugh-out-loud funny, but more than just humor - it offers a fresh look at war, politics, race and of course, alien relations. Irresistibly funny!

Don't take my word for it - Here's 10 reasons to read The True Meaning of Smekday!

Just released in paperback.