Brendan Buckley's Sixth-Grade Experiment

Gr 5–7—More changes await Brendan Buckley in this sequel (2012) to Sundee T. Frazier's 2008 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award-winning Brendan Buckley's Universe (2007, both Delacorte). Brendan starts middle school and more new people and events enter his life, including Morgan, the overly friendly girl he met at a rock club with Grandpa Ed; a national science competition; feelings he doesn't always understand; and tension with Kal, his best friend. When Brendan is paired with Morgan for the school science project, he's afraid that his guy friends will tease him. As Brendan's Tae Kwon Do starts to slip as a result of all his new interests, his relationship with his father experiences some strain. Mirrion Willis's narration is mostly clear and keeps the story moving along. During a tense point of the story when the dialogue switches back and forth between several characters, it becomes difficult to differentiate who is speaking. In another instance, Brendan is talking to a farmer at a fair who seems to have a Southern twang in a story set in the Pacific Northwest. Overall, though, the audiobook is performed well enough that these issues don't detract from the story.—Kristie Miller, Alexander Central School, Alexander, NY