THE REVIVAL

Cameron Beierle reads this humorous novel about the exploits of an 11-year-old boy in small-town Kansas around 1939 like an adult fondly recalling his youthful follies. His deep voice is always understanding and amused. He mispronounces a few words, and the voices he gives some of the older characters tend to exaggeration and cliché, but these are quibbles. The youngsters' voices are quite good. Beierle is particularly skilled in giving appropriate weight to an unexpectedly serious climactic moment without losing track of the essentially humorous tone. A good reading of a funny book captures the innocence of its time and place. W.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 06/ JAN 07]