SPIDER SPARROW

This is a story about simplicity at many different levels. The simple life of working at various tasks on an English farm in the 1930s and 1940s; simple joys; love and acceptance, simply given; and a boy with a simple mind. Spider Sparrow, who is mentally and developmentally slow, has been given a different gift--the ability to perfectly imitate and communicate with all the animals around him. Narrator Christian Rodska brings Spider to life--his joy and gentle ways when feeding and befriending the animals, his fear of those who make fun of him, his enthusiasm and pride when he is given a job on the farm. Rodska expertly creates the sense of life on the farm--slow, steady, dependable, cyclical. He gives the characters their own unique voices and temperaments, drawn so slowly yet vividly you're imperceptibly drawn into their lives. And his bird and animal sounds are so lifelike, you're tempted to respond. W.L.S. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 01]