Parents' Choice Awards : Audio : Storytelling
The Great Sled Race
Fall 2000 StorytellingReview:
Mike Anderson relates peppery tales that "have some semblance of truth," as he combines the everyday with the unlikely, inspired by his childhood in a small Illinois farming community with his best pal, Denny. In conversational, professional storyteller’s cadence, Anderson communicates a wealth of vivid, down home imagery: "genuine imitation Davy Crockett hats," 25 cent movies, Schwinn bicycles, October moons, crawdad fishing next to a graveyard using string, a safety pin and bacon; a favorite bike path through a cornfield that was "like a green hallway" in the summer and a magical place of "corn ghosts" when the fog rolled in. Suspenseful tales include "The
Thumb," a rather unusual Christmas story called "Cats," and "Billy Higgs," a cautionary tale involving a braggart and a perilous path next to railroad tracks. The title story is about a landmark event in two lives destined to
grow apart.
Lynne Heffley ©2000 Parents' Choice
Lynne was a staff writer for 25 years at the Los Angeles Times where she established and maintained the paper's first weekly children's arts and entertainment beat and was a general arts reporter. As a freelance writer and editor, Lynne is currently working in the arts and family entertainment fields.


