TO NIGHT OWL FROM DOGFISH

Narrators Imani Parks and Cassandra Morris capture the attitudes of two 12-year-olds who begin an email friendship as their fathers form a relationship. Parks voices the personality of Bett, a self-confident, risk-taking California surfer girl. Morris’s portrayal of Avery is tentative, fearful, and bookish. Both narrators reflect the girls’ awareness that their fathers have been secretly dating. Soon, their discomfort turns to resentment at losing the sole focus of their adoring dads, anger that they are sent off to nerdy summer camp, and, finally, affection for each other. While the aural references to the subject lines of the girls’ emails come off as repetitive, sound effects do help differentiate who is emailing whom. Other narrators from the ensemble vividly represent the fathers and other intriguing characters. S.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2019]