MASTERPIECE

With contagious pleasure, Jeremy Davidson introduces young listeners to the artist Durer. Davidson takes Broach’s tale of art theft at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and does much to support the story. He fills out the characters’ personalities and makes them lively. Davidson seems to have special powers of empathy and observation as he constructs the unique friendship between James the boy and Marvin the beetle. There is thought and acknowledgment of the majesty of great art behind the narrator’s voice and words. He conveys the story’s full wonder to the reader. Better sound editing would have improved Davidson’s clarity, but the recording’s merit makes this a small concern. Listeners will soak up this engaging mystery replete with art trivia. C.A. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2009]