Junonia

Gr 3—6—Alice is planning to celebrate her 10th birthday on her family's annual vacation to Sanibel Island, Florida. This year, her mother's friend is coming with her boyfriend and her six-year-old daughter Mallory who is troubled and impetuous. Stina Nielsen beautifully narrates Kevin Henkes's book (Greenwillow, 2011). She utilizes a variety of vocal inflections and perfectly conveys the variety of adolescent emotions Alice experiences—from the euphoric excitement and anticipation she feels as her family arrives at their rental cottage to the bitter disappointment she experiences upon learning some of the other annual vacationers won't be present this year to her quest for the elusive junonia shell. Listeners will feel that they are walking alongside Alice on her journey.—Cathie Bashaw Morton, Millbrook Central School District, NY