MY SCARY FAIRY GODMOTHER

Gillian Walton starts her narration with an upbeat steadiness as we meet Isabella, who is shy, studious, and devoted to her single mother. When Bella spends two weeks with her aunt and cousins, she has her first encounters with the ultra cool Max, "her scary fairy godmother." As Max transforms Bella into Izzy and, as promised, she becomes popular, Walton lets listeners hear how thrilled Izzy is at finding herself at the center of what's cool. She wonders how she'll ever go back to her ailing mother. At the end, Walton dramatizes Izzy's moment of epiphany when she sees the superficiality of her friends and realizes how much she cares for her mother. S.W. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2008]