THE TIME OF GREEN MAGIC

Narrator Saffron Coomber evokes the enchantment that ensues when 11-year-old Abi and her recently blended family move into their ivy-covered home. Imaginative Abi is surprised and confused when the book she's reading about a sea adventure, KON-TIKI, becomes drenched with saltwater. Her 6-year-old stepbrother, Louis, is an emotional time bomb waiting to go off, especially after his mother goes away on a long work assignment. Coomber captures his hysteria when a leopard-like animal he calls Iffen appears and grows large and menacing. Abi's 13-year-old brother, Max, who is smitten with the French babysitter, nonetheless joins the magical fray, dismissing his sullenness to bond with his siblings. Coomber conjures meaningful characterizations as a warm relationship between the new siblings develops. S.W. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2020]