Talking Walls: The Stories Continue
Grade 3-7-This recording of the two title books by Margy Burns Knight (Tilbury House) presents each story as a short vignette with musical accompaniment separating them. The many problems of this recording begin with the musical accompaniment. The sound quality is very uneven, ranging from a clanging gong that will jar listeners to an indistinguishable humming that causes the speakers to buzz. One of the Native American chants borrowed from another recording is well done, accenting the story authentically, but the calypso-style music, which begins the Mexican story, is not compatible with the location. The stories constitute a multicultural collection ranging from the famous?the Great Wall of China and the Wailing Wall?to the lesser-known walls of Zimbabwe and Chilean Pablo Neruda's home. These stories, while interesting and informative, are occasionally more political commentary than juvenile entertainment. The comparison between Angel Island, California and Ellis Island skews facts, giving the impression that European immigrants coming through New York easily entered the U.S. as opposed to the Chinese immigrants processed through California. Perhaps the biggest deficit of the recording is the reading itself. The slow, deliberate pace is flat and tedious, lacking in expression. Unnatural phrasing makes the stories hard to follow at times. The accent of the author/reader interferes with the pronunciation of several ethnic words and names (i.e. Ravana, Orozco, apartheid), negating the multicultural value of the tales.Diana Baker Freeman, Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, TXCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.