THE SNARKOUT BOYS AND THE BACONBURG HORROR

To "snark" is to sneak out when your parents are asleep and go to the Snark Theater or another Baconburg night spot. Whimsical music immediately draws the listener into this tale, in which all adults are weird or incompetent and the teenagers save the town. Pinkwater's strong writing skills carry his breathy narration. He employs little vocal inflection and supplies nothing to distinguish the individual characters, but his words paint a vivid picture of the town and its denizens. His speech is rapid, adding a sense of urgency as his plot unfolds. Originally written in 1984, some references are dated, but this offering will still hold strong appeal, especially for middle-school boys with a taste for the bizarre. B.L.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JAN 98]