THE MUSIC OF DOLPHINS

Mila, a young girl who survives a plane crash at sea which kills her mother and everyone else on board, lives for some years with a dolphin family until she is spotted on a tropical atoll and rescued. This is a moving story, told by Mila herself, of a feral child trying to adjust to life in the human world. Michele McHall does a wonderful job with a demanding story and book design. Mila speaks through diary entries, the first of which are written in simple words and large type. As she becomes more adept at speech and understands her new world better, her diary entries become longer and more descriptive. McHall's gentle, sweet, hesitant reading captures Mila's confusion, fatigue and desperate desire to please. The musical introduction and ending to each side remind the listener of the sunny seas Mila has left behind. Karen Hesse has written a complicated and evocative book; Michele McHall reads it with understanding, sympathy and artistry. L.R.S. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 00]