ODDLY ENOUGH

The Full Cast Audio Family engagingly narrates this collection featuring varied odd tales. With characters ranging from brownies to vampires, forest-dwelling sentinels, and fairies, this is a well-paced and enjoyable recording. Bruce Coville himself narrates several stories, and excellent choices were made for other prominent voices. With the eerily discordant musical interludes between stories, listeners will find no temptation to stop listening. Especially gripping are “Duffy’s Jacket,” a story about a boy who will never again forget his things; “The Box,” about a man who guards a box his whole life without ever knowing its contents, and “The Language of Blood,” an interesting Asian-inspired vampire story. J.M. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2011]