Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator, by Jennifer Allison

This and Surviving the Applewhites are books I picked up to read as part of a unit on humor. Gilda Joyce is an amusing novel that I would recommend to young adults, but not one that I am going to suggest as a book for shared readings or literature discussion groups. Maybe I'm just getting an overdose of fantasy, but I found Gilda a little to "psychic" and predictable.

We have the dead parent, a trip away from adult supervision, and adolescent "detective" work. There were amusing episodes, but I was not completely engaged. Perhaps my problem was that I listened to this instead of reading it. Kirkus and Booklist both gave it quite positive reviews. This is a research study waiting to happen! Does listening to audio books create a different "read" of a book than when the reader is tied to paper or their Nook/Kindle/e-reader and perhaps more focused on the content.

This might be a good exploratory study--check back and I'll edit this post once I know

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