Audiobook: The Cay

The Cay

by Theodore Taylor

Length: 2 hours, 58 minutes

Format: Audio
Price: Free - checked out from the library

How I heard about it: My students read an excerpt of this novel at school

Basic Premise: Set during the second world war, twelve-year-old Phillip is traveling back to America when his boat is torpedoed. He finds himself stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean with no one but an elderly black man and a stray cat that lands them on the cay.

My Take: My Take: 9 out of 10 (scale here)
When I was in elementary school, I was one of those students who daydreamed while the teacher read. My mind was just too busy to pay attention to a boring old story. I was always surprised when the teacher would ask questions about what she had read and my peers would respond with the right answers. But there were some books - The Man Who Loved Clowns, Shiloh, Summer of the Monkies, Charlotte's Web, Stepping on the Cracks - that I do remember. And one of them was The Cay.

When I heard a chapter of it had been pulled for our class, I was eager to refresh my memory, so I checked it out for our second trip to Oklahoma. As a child, I had not picked up on the book's themes of discrimination and sacrifice, nor all the WW2 historical background. I loved all the figurative language and imagery, and I found myself looking forward to the day I could introduce this book to Charlie. I loved teaching the excerpt of the book the following week at school!

Audiobook: The Cukoo's Calling

The Cuckoo's Calling

by Robert Galbraith

Length: 15 hours, 54 minutes

Format: Audio
Price: Free - checked out from the library using the Overdrive App

How I heard about it: Right after it came out, on the news, as it's actually written by JK Rowling

Basic Premise: Down and out private investigator Cormoran Strike finds himself in a tangled web of murder, lies, fame, and fortune when he reluctantly accepts a case dealing with the death of the famous Lula Landry, a model whose mysterious death has become an international affair and whose peculiar brother can't seem to let go.

My Take: 7 out of 10 (scale here)

I listened to this book on my way to Oklahoma, mainly because it was the ONLY audio book I could find on Overdrive. Audio books are so popular! And while I enjoyed listening to the British guy who read it...well, let's just say I was thankful I didn't have kids in the car. A very adult book, the language and content are most certainly not for children, (which seems to surprise me every time I read a book that isn't YAL). The story was obivously well-written (it is JKR, after all) and the plot was intriguing. It had a very Girl with the Dragon Tatoo-ish feel about it, in that the protagonist was kind of a scumbag, the mystery surrounded a family in which a young girl had disappeared (or died, in this case), and the obvious was right under your nose the whole time. I did really like the PI's assistant. She was from a temp agency and she ended up being very valuable to the case and the book in general. 

The end of the book sounded as though it was setting up for a sequel. I'm not sure I will be reading it though. I have too many things on my list to read!