THE GOALIE

At 3, Julie MacNeil survived the car crash that killed her mother. Now a sixth-grader, Julie struggles to make sense of her father falling for the mother of the boy who has displaced her as star soccer goalie. Alyssa Bresnahan's reading of Julie's pain is gentle and compassionate. With her characteristic measured pacing Bresnahan allows Julie's confusion to unfold as the impossible struggle to be "everything" in the MacNeil family tangles Julie in an unyielding web. She expresses Julie's intermittent bursts of anger with wildfire fierceness and plays them against the soothing tones of Julie's father and Aunt Melinda. Julie's determination and strength of spirit will recall Bresnahan's splendid reading of THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS and will appeal to the same audience. T.B. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]