I love audio books.  Read by the right person, audio books can truly make me miss my Interstate exit or sit in my car long after I’ve parked.  It’s like bedtime stories for your car (and I spend a lot of time in my car).  My first real brush with an awesome audio book was thanks to my kids.  We checked out Click Clack Moo read by Randy Travis.  His southern drawl, mooing cows were giggle inducing.  Next came Jim Dale’s readings of the Harry Potter series.  I painted bathrooms and bedrooms and even my laundry room to his Hagrid and Dumbledore. 

Not every audio book is a good one, though, and it’s easy to ding a perfectly good read based on the sound of an actor’s voice (Mary Pope Osborne’s readings of her book series The Magic Tree House comes to mind).  Sometimes, the voice in your head simply doesn’t match the one coming out of the speaker, either.  And I find, as a listener of YA audio books, sometimes it feels like I’ve been mucking around a teenagers brain for way too long and I find myself talking back to the recording telling it to just get on with it. 

All this being said, no matter how talented, a voice actor can’t save dry, lackluster material, either, but get the right people (Wil Wheaton reading Ready Player One or The True Meaning of Smekday read by Bahni Turpin), and the right story, and you, too, will find yourself transported to mystical places without having to remember where you left your reading glasses.

For the KCLS 10 to Try Reading Challenge, I listened to David Arnold’s Kids of Appetite, a tale of love, loss, and healing.  Wonderfully sad and sometimes very funny, this is a story of saying good-bye.  

What I liked:

• While you learn everybody’s story, at its heart, this is Vic’s story.  His father has died and he’s on a mission to honor Dad’s last wishes. 
• The main characters come from loving, imperfect families and they know it.  Vic comes from a long line of folks who like PDA and his father teaches him to see with his heart.  Mad’s family is complicated but she loves her Grandmother (Jama) and cherishes the memories of happier times with her mom and dad.  There is no blaming or excuses for actions that sometimes come from situations like this. 
• This is a story of looking past what is on the surface.  Vic’s Mobius Syndrome has left his face paralyzed.  Mad’s shaved head reveals a scar, the result of the car crash that killed her parents.  Zeus does not speak, but Cocoa tells Vic if he listens, Zeus says a lot. 
• The story is told in a series of flashbacks brought on by police interviews.  Mad and Vic are tasked with stalling until the plan has been carried out.  What the plan is isn’t revealed until the end. 
• The idea of each person they help being a ‘chapter’ was cool.  Isn’t life like that?
• Frank was well done.  Annoying in the beginning, the catalyst (along with his sons) for the whole story, and the good guy when Vic needed him.  I liked that.
• I was surprised at how sad I found the end.  I knew what was going to happen and yet still, the impact hit hard – in a good way.  It showed Vic’s healing and reconnection with his mom and opened the door to the future. 
• Baz’ prologue was perfect.  Funny, touching, a great way to end the book.

 What was annoying?

• This is a bunch of very perceptive kids.  Too perceptive?  Maybe.  There were moments when I felt they were too mature for their ages, but they’ve been through a lot, so perhaps tough times made them grow up faster than normal?
• OMG, Cocoa!  She had some of the best lines, but at the same time, she’s a little brat.
• Super Racehorse got a little old.
• The ending wrapped up fast – and maybe a bit too neatly. 

 What I’d want to know before handing this to my kid:

• The story is about death.  All of the main characters have lost parents in tragic ways which is part of why they work as a group.  An affair is talked about.  Physical and mental abuse is suffered at the hands of Mad’s uncle. Stories of parents deaths are retold.  A character is murdered.   8^th grade on up.

Much like David Arnold’s, Mosquitoland, Kids of Appetite is a story about kids growing up and growing better as a result of heartbreak.  It’s one of those books I like to think of as simply a really good story. 

Ah, comic books.  One of my best childhood memories involves a box of old comic books discovered in the closet of a bedroom in a lake cottage rental.  They were probably the loved stories of a child who belonged in the cottage at one point in time or maybe the cottage owners just had the foresight to know it rained every once in a while and kids needed something to do. Either way, the dragging out of the cardboard box, the ritual sneezing from the dust, and the rediscovery of the old titles (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, Archie) were a highlight of the summer, rain or shine. 

Several years ago, at the elementary school library where I was working, the librarian at the time did something radical.  She created a graphic novel section.  Her reasoning?  Reading is reading, and for kids who found chapters and paragraphs daunting or just plain boring, a little color, a little humor, a story line with a visual plot might be an excellent stepping stone to bigger things.

She had something there.  This year’s Washington State Evergreen Teen Book Award includes the graphic novel Ms. Marvel, the story of a 16 year old Muslim girl living in New Jersey who is exposed to a chemical mist giving her superpowers.  And as any parent knows, with great power comes a whole lot of juggling real life with hero life – and Ms. Marvel does this really well – or not, but that’s what makes this a great read. 

What I liked:

• Main character Kamala Kahn comes from a loving, immigrant family.  She has to juggle Muslim home life with American teenagerdom and it’s not easy.  Her mom is strict, understanding and lays down the boundaries like any good mom of a superhero would.   Her relationship with her brother is true to siblinghood, overbearing but loving.  These two want the best for each other and I found myself looking forward to their interactions.
• Her superpowers are awkward and funny and just plain great!  There isn’t anything glamorous about them which makes them perfect for a teenager.
• Kamala takes ownership of her town.  She doesn’t try to save the world, just Jersey City. 
• Kamala makes mistakes, but she’s not too full of herself  to ask when she needs help.  This means, over the course of the series, the whole cast of Marvel heroes show up, but Iron Man’s role as mentor is my absolute favorite. 
• The cats!  There is one series of pictures with cats that is worth careful study.

What I didn’t Like…

• I have to wait for the next one…to be published…

 One funny note:  I had to re-teach myself how to read graphic novels!  It’s not just panel after panel anymore.  The artwork is fantastic but it sometimes means you have to take in the bigger picture or follow a circular path to get the story right.  Don’t give up though – it doesn’t take long to pick it up.

This is a series I gave to my 13 year old, superhero loving daughter to read.  She proceeded to take them to school and loan them out to friends.  I’d say that’s two thumbs up to a good read!