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    Will Sparrow's Road
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    Will Sparrow's Road
    Unavailable
    Will Sparrow's Road
    Audiobook5 hours

    Will Sparrow's Road

    Written by Karen Cushman

    Narrated by Katherine Kellgren

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

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    About this audiobook

    Will Sparrow, liar and thief, is running away-from the father who sold him for beer, from the innkeeper who threatened to sell him as a chimney sweep, from his whole sorry life. Barefoot and penniless, without family, friends, or boots, Will is determined to avoid capture and, of course, to find something to eat.

    Some of the travelers he meets on the road have a kind word for him and a promise of better things to come, such as coins and juicy beef ribs. Eager to go along, Will repeatedly finds himself tricked by older and wiser tricksters. Each time, he resolves afresh to trust no one and care for no one. But luckily for Will, he can't keep his guard
    up forever.

    The lively goings-on behind the scenes of Elizabethan market fairs provide a colorful, earthy backdrop for Karen Cushman's wise and funny story of a runaway who finally, and unexpectedly, stops running.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateNov 6, 2012
    ISBN9780449014691
    Author

    Karen Cushman

    Karen Cushman's acclaimed historical novels include Catherine, Called Birdy, a Newbery Honor winner, and The Midwife's Apprentice, which received the Newbery Medal. She lives on Vashon Island in Washington State. Visit her online at karencushman.com and on Twitter @cushmanbooks.

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    Reviews for Will Sparrow's Road

    4/5

    8 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Another hit from narrator Katherine Kellgren. She brings this audiobook to life and greatly contributed to my enjoyment of the story. Of particular delight to me is Ms. Kellgren's singing throughout the book (even when she's portraying some of the more tone-deaf characters) because I think singing the songs helps bring the time period to life in a way that reading the lyrics does not. The audiobook is fully voiced, expertly as you'd expect from this seasoned reader. I'd recommend this tale to fans of Karen Cushman's previous historical novels or anyone interested in Renaissance England.
    • 4/5
      A lively, colorful adventure with lots of wonderful characters set in Elizabethan England.
    • 3/5
      I liked this tale of a boy who makes a life for himself in Elizabethan England. The language seems historically correct and may be hard for some readers to get used to. When we meet Will Sparrow he cares for no one but himself because no one cares for him. His mother left years ago and his father has given him to the inn keeper in exchange for all the ale he can drink. Will is resourceful, learns from his mistakes, and realizes that he is happier allowing himself to care about other people. There is brawling and drunk characters but I found nothing objectionable for ages 10 and up.
    • 4/5
      Will Sparrow's Road will give young readers a look at what life was like for a poor, young boy in Elizabethan England. Will's father is a drunk who sold him to an innkeeper in exchange for liquor. When Will steals a pie the innkeeper threatens to sell him to a man who will make him a chimney sweep. Will knows that this is a death sentence. So he runs away with no shoes and a blanket that smells of horse as his only possession.Will meets a number of people along the road as he flees including a thief who steels his blanket and the baf of apples he has harvested. Finally Will falls in with a man named Tidball who travels from fair to fair with his crew of oddities and prodigies. At first he is grateful to Master Tidball and afraid of the cat-faced girl and the surly dwarf who are also part of the crew.It takes a while for Will to learn to see the cat-faced girl who has named herself Grace Wise and the dwarf whose name is Fitz as people just like him. It takes him even longer to see that Master Tidball is not the benevolent man he first thought he was.This story follows Will as he finds a home and family of his choosing. We also get to see Will learn to care about others. The life of a young boy on his own in Elizabethan England is hard with lots of hunger and rough treatment. We see a lot of people who are not kind but we also see quite a few people who are kind to Will too.I liked this story and think young readers who enjoy historical fiction will like it too.