THE KEY TO EXTRAORDINARY

Narrator Kate Simses’s portrayal of 12-year-old Emma is youthful, spunky, and, at times, tinged with the sadness of “the Big Empty,” a feeling that began with the recent death of Emma’s mother. Simses’s Southern accents give a sense of Black Bird Hollow and the Boneyard Café, owned by Emma’s tattooed, motorcycle-riding Granny Blue. Doing great justice to Lloyd’s colorful descriptions and flights of fancy, Simses skips through unique similes, heightens the tension of the haunted graveyard, and bursts into the songs embedded in the story. Her expression of the magical words and situations is as strong as her voicing of Emma’s confusion about the Destiny Dream that will steer her future. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2016]