Boy Proof.

BOY PROOF. Cecil Castellucci. 2005. Read by Carine Montbertrand. 4 tapes. 4.75 hrs. Recorded Books. 1-4193-5127-3. $34.95. Vinyl; plot notes. S

From the KLIATT review of the book, March, 2005: "Castellucci is a filmmaker, an actress, and a singer-songwriter. She lives in Hollywood, and this, her first novel, is set there. It's wonderfully quirky, as is the main character, Victoria, aim Egg. Victoria's mother is a beautiful actress, and her father is a successful makeup artist--he's an Oscar winner who designs monsters, dragons, vampire bats and all those good things. Victoria's parents are divorced and Victoria is living unhappily with her mother. She feels most comfortable visiting her father's workshop. The story is basically a school story, a first-love story, but with unusual characters--the artistic, intellectual geeks who rarely get attention in YA novels. Victoria hides behind the identity of a character in a favorite SF film--Egg ... She is a senior, anxious to get out of high school as the valedictorian and off to college in the coming year...."

Montbertrand's low-key reading is pleasantly done, although the maverick Victoria (Egg) sounds a bit sprightlier in the text. Basically, Egg, outside of the way she presents herself initially, is a mild-mannered teen, and that's how Montbertrand reads her, ignoring the bald head, odd clothes, be-ringed ears and make-up. Other voices, male, adult, are well presented without straining at erratic changes in tone. Mary Purucker, Beverly Hills PL, Beverly Hills, CA