THIS TENDER LAND

Krueger himself introduces and closes this modern-day ODYSSEY, which also serves as a wink at Huck Finn. Narrator Scott Brick brings the story to life as the voice of Odie, an old man who reflects upon his childhood in Minnesota and the life-changing year of 1932. Four children escape, via canoe, from the notorious Lincoln School, a boarding school for Native Americans. Brick gives each unique character's voice emotional power. Even the mute Mose, who finds his voice when Odie and Albert teach him sign language, is given considerable strength as a character. Herman Volz, one of the school's advisors, has the appropriate German accent. Brick tells the story in a storyteller's voice, injecting appropriate emotions into the many people Odie and the other vagabonds meet along the river in search of home. N.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2019]