LITTLE FUR

In this strangely captivating Australian tale, the main character is half elf and half troll, and looks like a 4-year-old child. ("She was small," writes Carmody, "but sometimes small things could do what other creatures could not.") Humans are the other, and often the enemy in this tale--Little Fur must go on a brave and dangerous journey to save her beloved forest from being burned by them. Carmody is a fine reader of her own work. She invests her story--a kind of environmental fable--with a magical attention that makes readers listen carefully, holding their breath through the treacherous moments, and casting a spell that lasts to the story's end. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 06]