Full Cast Audio

Library Bookwatch, August, 2004

Full Cast Audio

618 Weststcott Street, 1st floor, Syracuse, NY 13210

www.fullcastaudio.com

Five audios from this publisher provide listeners with unabridged full cast play/recordings which are highly dramatized and involving. Take Geraldine McCaughrean's The Kite Rider (1932076387, $37.00): a full cast narrates the gripping story set in the times of China and Kublai Khan, telling of young Haoyou, who learns to fly on a giant scarlet kite in a traveling circus--and to recognize and thwart the winds of greed which accompany his fete. Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja (1932076530, $28.00) tells of a new kid at school who is the target for bullies--and how outsider Justin's determination not to become involved is thwarted by a teacher's assignment. Elizabeth Winthrop and cast narrate her Red-Hot Rattoons (19320-76476, $34.00), telling of five young rats who love to dance, and who face dangers on the way to fulfilling their dream of dancing at the Boom Boom Room. Bruce Coville does an admirable retelling of Shakespeare's four selected stories, then joins with Cynthia Bishop and the Full Cast company in providing Volume 1 of Shakespeare's Greatest Hits (2943076-332, $25.00), covering the high points of MacBeth, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet and Midsummer Night's Dream. Young adults will find a newfound affection for Shakespeare's language and drama, made more accessible both by the retelling and by the full cast drama. Robert Heinlein's Have Space Suit Will Travel (1932076-417, $39.00) will reach a wide audience from teens to adults with its excellent dramatic cast acting and the fascinating science fiction drama telling of a teen who moves from a soda jerk to a spacesuit winner and then an alien abductee.