George's Marvelous Medicine

Gr 4–7—George's grandmother is a terribly grumpy, "grizzly old grunion" who just loves to order young George around. George decides he will create a medicine to relieve Grandma of all of her awfulness. Adding everything he can find in the house and barn, including shampoo, shaving cream, animal medicines, shoe polish, and paint, George boils up a pot of medicine that has shocking results when given to Grandma. Utter chaos breaks out when his father determines that they should brew up more of the awful stuff to give to the farmyard animals and George can't quite remember exactly what he used the first time around. Derek Jacobi does a commendable job voicing the quirky characters; Grandma is perfectly grating and nasty. The pacing is just right for the wacky presentation, and Jacobi nicely captures the complete pandemonium as things spiral out of control. This is a quick listen and should appeal to fans of Dahl although it may leave some adults feeling squeamish and grateful for the warning to "not try this at home" found at the beginning of the presentation.—Deanna Romriell, Salt Lake City Public Library, UT