Countdown

This is a review of the audio book.

Author: Deborah Wiles

Reader: Emma Galvin

Producer: Listening Library

Production Year: 2011

Most of the listeners will be: 4th through 7th grade girls and boys.

Listener's Advisory: Hear about the Cuban Missile Crisis from another perspective (England) in The Fire Eaters by David Almond, also recorded by Listening Library.

Summary:

What could be worse than having your best friend turn on you, your older sister disappearing, your uncle embarrassing you, and your younger brother being so saintly it makes your mistakes look even worse? The President of the United States announcing on TV that Russia is sending missiles to Cuba with the intention of possibly using them on America! Franny Chapman is 11 years old and lives in Maryland during 1962. In addition to her story, we listen to an assortment of documentary materials, including song lyrics, news clips, and biographical sketches of important figures of the time. 

My favorite passage:

Franny's younger brother, Drew is so upset by the news of the Cuban Missile Crisis that he mostly stops eating and hides in his tree house. When Franny goes to talk to him, still holding his favorite book, Our Friend the Atom, he explains that everything we know about atoms could help us get to the moon. But instead we are making atomic bombs and threatening to blow up other people, who are just made of atoms. 

What I really think:

The audio production of this book is phenomenal. There is a kind of channel changing sound between the clips that make up longer documentary sections and different voice actors. There is even some real audio of Kennedy and Khrushchev. 

Personally, I would have liked the biographical sections read by another person, as I associated Galvin's voice with Franny (the book is written in first person). Also, and this must have been a decision by the producer, none of the songs are sung. Why?

Love the story. I mean you see what Drew said about atoms. This book is for the peacemakers.