Shadowmancer by G.P. Taylor, read by Graeme Malcolm in a Listening Library production, 2004
Vicar Demurral isn’t satisfied running the affairs of his village. He wants to control the world. Messing with powers he doesn’t completely understand, he seeks two cherubim, one gold and the other flesh, to overthrow the one ruling god and become like god himself. However, Raphah, the healer and cherubim of flesh, with the help of two village children Thomas and Kate, alludes his grasp, even though dark angels come after them. They find unlikely allies such as the smuggler and an old wanderer. The good and evil gods, their angels, and the philosophies of their followers are described with phrases familiar in Christianity, though there are plenty of supernatural elements thrown in. Sometimes the creepiness struck too close to the sacred for me, but the reader was HP-good, and the story kept me engrossed the entire 8-and-a-half hours.
Some memory-jogging tags: Good vs. evil. Village life. England. Medieval-like setting. Smugglers. Oppression. Choices.
MS Rating: OK. Not for all listeners because of creep factor.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, 2007
12-year-old Hugo is an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931. His father has died in a fire at the museum where he worked, and his uncle has taken him in, but has been missing these past three months. He is caught stealing from the toyseller one day, and the toyseller takes away his notebook, the one link he has to his dad and the broken automaton he rescued from the burned museum. When the toyseller’s goddaughter becomes involved, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep his life and automaton secret. The cover and black paper totally pulled me in. The story is fast-paced and the pictures pull you along the mystery as much as the words.
Some memory-jogging tags: George Melies, filmmaker. Robots. Orphans. Railroad stations. Paris, France. Friendship. Trust. Secrets. Mechanical ability. Silent films. Clocks.
MS Rating: Great.
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, 2004
I picked this up because it won a Beehive Award in 2006 and I’d never heard of it before. Matt is a young cabin boy working aboard an airship that his dad worked on and fell to his death off of. He loves the air, has great “sea-air” legs, feels close to his dad up there, and feels trapped on land. Kate is a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, on her first air voyage, and trying to retrace the steps of her grandfather’s last adventure. After being boarded by pirates and marooned on an uncharted island, these two team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth’s surface. I thought the pacing was a little uneven. It was great fun when talking about ship life and avoiding crashing or escaping from pirates, but got a little slow when talking about the cloud cats. I liked the alternative-reality aspect of this world, but didn’t like the supernatural aspects as much.
Some memory-jogging tags: Airships. Pirates. Imaginary creatures. Friendship. Adventure story.
MS Rating: Great
Remembering Raquel by Vivian Vande Velde, 2007
This story is told in several voices who talk about Raquel, their high school classmate or student or relation or chance acquaintance, who stepped off the curb and was struck and killed by a car. Raquel is dead already when the book begins and we learn about her through these acquaintances’ comments. She was overweight and unpopular. Her mom had recently died, and she loved animated film and playing an online alternative persona game. Who is our neighbor? How well do we treat others? How well do we know another? These types of questions are explored in this fast read.
Some memory-jogging tags: Fast read. Overweight. High school story. Death. Popularity. Car accident. Online gaming.
MS Rating: OK.
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