WINTER SKY

Listeners will be chilled by the story of 11-year-old Siria, whose night-time, siren-following jaunts take her to fire locations with the intention of bringing good luck to her fire-fighting dad. Narrator Arielle Sitrick is masterful at taking Giff's spare prose and creating a spunky and convincing protagonist. A series of small neighborhood fires suggest arson, and Siria is determined to identify the arsonist. When clues point to friends and then her father is injured, Siria musters all her pluck to carry on. Sitrick's voice is childlike--raw and unpretentious--and she has a way of punching out emotion just as young people do. Cassandra Campbell narrates during the moments when Siria's mother provide poignancy to the story. A.R. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2014]