FIRST BOY

Cooper Jewett is 14 when his beloved grandfather dies, leaving him with a dairy farm to look after. Bizarre things happen--big men in black sedans follow him, the farmhouse is ransacked, the barn is set afire, and he even meets the president, who may be his long-lost mother. While Jesse Berns reads with gusto, he has a strange idea of a rural New Hampshire accent. Cooper's elderly allies, Mrs. Perley ("gracious goodness") and Mr. Searle, are lovely old-fashioned characters voiced with humor, dignity, and pretend crotchetiness. All Berns's characters are distinctive and fun. What a pity he can't laugh--amusement and menace sound exactly the same. A.B. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 06]