IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD by Gennifer Choldenko has dual narrators of Ariadne Meyers and Francois Battiste, both having backgrounds in either the theater or on screen. Ariadne Meyers narrates the chapters of Kirsten’s thoughts, and Francois Battiste narrates the chapters of Walker’s thoughts. This way of presenting the book kept it interesting and was well done. After hearing this book, it is obvious why it was chosen as a 2008 Notable Children's Recording.
This book/audiobook is about an overweight student, Kirsten McKenna, and the new black student at her private (predominantly white) school named Walker Jones. Kirsten’s weight issues may have something to do with the constant unrest in her household between her parents and the fact that her best friend has deserted her for the popular group. Kirsten is befriended by Walker and Mateo. Throughout the book we learn that Walker is driven to fit in and do his best by his single mother. But the book takes a strange turn when Kirsten discovers that her parents’ bickering is over the fact that she has an African-American half brother- Walker! Gennifer Choldenko presents this story with a deep understanding of what young adults go through and gentle humor along the way.
The narrators present this book marvelously! Each narrator subtlety adjusts their voice so that you know when they are another character speaking other than Kirsten or Walker. The pace used matched what was happening during the narration – slow when thinking, fast when rushing to explain something, etc. The only music was at the very beginning and at the end of the audiobook and there are no sound effects. The narrators tell you the chapter numbers and titles before beginning their narration. I have not seen the print version of this book, so I do not know if anything was left off of this audiobook. Technically the audiobook was well packaged with an attractive cover. There was no noticeable white noise or any other distraction to the narration.
This book/audiobook is about an overweight student, Kirsten McKenna, and the new black student at her private (predominantly white) school named Walker Jones. Kirsten’s weight issues may have something to do with the constant unrest in her household between her parents and the fact that her best friend has deserted her for the popular group. Kirsten is befriended by Walker and Mateo. Throughout the book we learn that Walker is driven to fit in and do his best by his single mother. But the book takes a strange turn when Kirsten discovers that her parents’ bickering is over the fact that she has an African-American half brother- Walker! Gennifer Choldenko presents this story with a deep understanding of what young adults go through and gentle humor along the way.
The narrators present this book marvelously! Each narrator subtlety adjusts their voice so that you know when they are another character speaking other than Kirsten or Walker. The pace used matched what was happening during the narration – slow when thinking, fast when rushing to explain something, etc. The only music was at the very beginning and at the end of the audiobook and there are no sound effects. The narrators tell you the chapter numbers and titles before beginning their narration. I have not seen the print version of this book, so I do not know if anything was left off of this audiobook. Technically the audiobook was well packaged with an attractive cover. There was no noticeable white noise or any other distraction to the narration.
I struggled again with listening to this audiobook. Anyone that walked by tended to get me distracted, and I would find the need to rewind. But by the 3rd disc I was so into the book that the distractions were not as great. I was particularly glad the narrators made subtle changes to their voices when they narrated someone else speaking so that I could tell who was speaking and not having to wait until they said who was speaking. I tend to read with voices in my mind and greatly depend on new paragraphs and quotation marks to assist me with my reading. I loved how Kirsten and Walker learning about their relationship not only helped them but her parents in the end.
