*Katherine Coville. Ivy.
Narrated by Carmen Viviano Crafts and the Full Cast Audio family.
Digital Download. 2 hours.
Full Cast Audio. 2017/2021.
In the town of Broomsweep, most of its citizens are neat and tidy, and do everything "just so." But Ivy and her grandmother are markedly different from them. Grandmother is the town healer to all creatures: human, animal, and magical. She has more important things to do than keep scrupulous order and sweep her property at least twice a day. When a contest for the most interesting town is announced by the new queen, Broomsweep's residents put tremendous pressure on Ivy and Grandmother to clean up the house and gardens and banish all the ailing creatures before the queen arrives. And then the goblins show up!
Performed by a talented full cast of all ages, this story is an entertaining romp full of magical creatures --and kindness and ingenuity in the face of trouble. Carmen Viviano Crafts serves as the book's narrator. She has extensive experience working with Full Cast Audio, and is one of this reviewer's favorite voices in Tamora Pierce's Immortals series. Haley Grogan portrays the Ivy of the title, and her sweet, clear voice is the perfect counterpart to Cynthia Bishop's kind, clever, and wry Grandmother. Honorable mentions include: Gennaro Parlato as Cedric the griffin, who continuously crash lands since a terrible incident that took one of his legs; Katie Gibson as Mistress Peevish, whose performance lives up to the character's name in a deliciously over-the-top way; Dan Bostick as Balthazar, the extremely polite dragon with a head cold! Most of the narrators will be familiar to regular listeners of Full Cast Audio titles, and this recording is perfect for elementary school aged children and above.
Reviewed by Olivia Durant