THE GOLD-THREADED DRESS

Amy Rubinate’s sweet, welcoming voice recounts the struggles of Oy, a Thai-American fourth-grader. Oy must decide if she should share her pink silk dress in order to please clique leader Liliandra. Rubinate’s style is soft and controlled. She creates subtly different voices, with slight changes in timbre for the male characters. However, the choice to avoid accents in a story that features a Thai protagonist in a Mexican-American school district is not ideal. It creates a uniform, accessible recording but one that makes no attempt to be authentic. Also, Rubinate’s consonants are not as crisp as they should be. While this gentle reading shares a meaningful message of cultural assimilation, it could be improved with greater attention to detail. C.A. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2011]