STREET BOYS

Actor Joe Mantegna clearly delights in his reading of STREET BOYS, which tells the story of how a band of mostly children and teenagers are able to unite with an American soldier to defeat a Nazi attack on Naples during WWII. Mantegna's words flow smoothly, and his style is so effective that he could audition for every role. He also demonstrates the importance of understanding a book about a foreign culture. In STREET BOYS, he transitions between American soldiers and Italian freedom fighters with seemingly minimal effort, and maximum effect. Although the book has a few slower moments, Mantegna's reading makes even those passages fly by. His compassionate handling of the deaths of some key characters helps keep even those scenes from becoming too sad, or clichéd. D.J.S. 2003 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB / MAR 03]