STILL SAL

Julienne Irons returns to narrate this entry in Kevin Henkes's Miller family stories. New first-grader Sal finds herself with a major case of teacher envy when her best friend is assigned to a different classroom with a charismatic, young teacher, while she's condemned to spend the year with a grandmotherly woman who calls her Sally. Henkes writes in short, declarative sentences that befit his young protagonist; Irons voices them in somewhat breathy tones and a predictable cadence. This latter characteristic leads to a sometimes-bumpy listening experience; rising and falling intonation often land such that complex sentences are chopped into discrete chunks. This may not stop listeners from losing themselves in Sal's believable unhappiness and her attempts to relieve it. Sweet, if uneven. V.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2024]