by Paul Fleishman
Audio Bookshelf, 2001
Genre: Books on CD, Poetry
Honors: Newbery Medalist (Joyful Noise)
Review: Audio Bookshelf presents two of Paul Fleishman's poetry books in audio format, performed by Melissa Hughes and Scott Snively with cameo performances by Terry Bregy, Heather Frederick, Adam Gaulin and Ashley Seaney. Joyful Noise is a collection of poems about the life of insects, spoken by the insects themselves, while I am Phoenix tells the stories of different types of birds. All poems are recited rhythmically with alternating lines for two people, and each poem is about a single species.
Opinion: I was originally going to read Joyful Noise for the first assignment, as it is a Newbery winner. However, I could not find the book when I first paid a visit to the library and instead, the children's librarian recommended I give the audiobook set a try, to get a feel for the poems as performances. The audiobook was there on the shelf, so I nabbed it. I'm glad I took her advice. First of all, the poems are written for two people, so it is a bit odd that there are, at times, what sounds like as many as five people speaking (as in the poem "Cicadas"). It does not detract from the beautiful harmonies of the actors, however. No two poems are spoken in the same tone or rhythm. I felt that the actors did a wonderful job making each character in Joyful Noise sound like people with different voices and personalities. The poem "Book Lice" is especially sweet, with the actors using accentuated voices cooing over the microphone as two book lice with different reading tastes who find each other and fall in love, adoring the differences between them. I was not quite as thrilled with I am Phoenix, but I only listened to it through one time and perhaps I should have given it another listen. I returned to Joyful Noise several times before sending it back to its home at the library.
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