Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.

LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY. Gary D. Schmidt. 2004/2005. Read by Sam Freed. 6 cds. 6.75 hrs. Listening Library. 0-307-28185-x. $50.00. Vinyl; plot, author, reader notes. JS

Being a preacher's son is never easy, but Turner Buckminster is having great difficulty adjusting to his new home in a small Maine town. Constrained on all sides by his father's--as well as the townspeople's--expectations of how he should behave, Turner finally finds a friend in Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl who lives in a nearby island community founded by former slaves. As their friendship grows, so do the threats from the town's leaders who insist on viewing the black island families as intrusive pests, rather than people, and who plot to raze the island homes in order to build local tourist trade. Freed's warm voice suits this wonderful historical novel, in which the writing sometimes carries the cadence of sermons from the Sunday pulpit.

Although the story is set in Maine, accents aren't prominent, although there are firm traces in the voices of the adults of the town. The main characters are fully voiced, and the secondary characters are semi-voiced; in addition, Freed differentiates speakers readily during conversations. A Newbery Honor book. Carol Reich, Youth Svcs., Hillsboro PL, Hillsboro, OR