NEVER SWIM IN APPLESAUCE

Junie B. Jones, kindergarten and first-grade student extraordinaire, has a new companion in Roscoe Riley. Roscoe speaks his mind with the presence of an adult but the naïveté of a youngster and acts on impulse. In this fourth episode, Roscoe and his first-grade class are taking their first field trip to the Happy Apple Orchard. Narrator Jared Goldsmith surely has experience with young children. He narrates with the heightened animation of an exuberant boy. Roscoe's voice rises to an excited high pitch; brother Max and Dad have firm and opinionated voices; baby Hazel is high pitched. The back-and-forth dialogue moves along well and is slowed and speeded up to heighten the suspense. A.R. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2010]