CHIRP

Narrator Merissa Czyz portrays the sadness Mia carries. It's more than the dread and anger she's feeling because her parents are forcing her to attend summer camps instead of watching TV, as she's been doing since her gymnastics injury the year before. She's cheered, however, about returning to be with her grandmother, an entomologist, who runs a cricket farm. Soon Mia is swept up in helping her grandmother succeed at promoting crickets as an alternate food source and at solving the mystery of who is sabotaging these efforts. Czyz dramatizes Mia's changes from reluctance to enjoyment of both camps and the new friends she makes. Still, the sadness lurks. Finally, when she reveals sexual harassment by her former gymnastics coach, her despair lifts, and she's able to break through to rediscover her joy and power. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2020]