Audio Review: About Average by Andrew Clements

Author: Andrew Clements
Narrated by: Celia Keenan-Bolger
Title: About Average
Publisher: Simon and Schuster 
Format:Unabridged Audio CD
Length: 2 hrs:9 mins
Publication: July 2012
Source: Publisher via Audiobookjukebox
Rating: 4 out 5
Audible

Jordan Johnston is average. Not short, not tall. Not plump, not slim. Not blond, not brunette. Not gifted, not flunking out. Even her shoe size is average. She’s ordinary for her school, for her town, for even the whole wide world, it seems.
But everyone else? They’re remarkable. She sees evidence everywhere - on TV, in movies and magazines, and even in the email blasts that fill her inbox. Tremendously talented. Stunningly beautiful. Wildly gifted. And some of them are practically her age!
Jordan feels doomed to a life of wallowing in the vast, soggy middle. So she makes a goal: By the end of the year, she will discover her great talent. By the end of the year, she will no longer be average. She will find a way to become extraordinary, and everyone will know about it!

Thoughts: The cutest book about accepting who you are as an individual. Jordan sees herself as middle ground, not the best but certainly not the worst. She hopes to be more than average but exceptional but it's hard when even her parents see her accomplishments in school as average. Jordan has a wonderful voice and a humorous perspective on life. She at that stage where she trying to find her place in the world. Jordan is a real character, it is easy to visualize someone feeling what she feels. What's great about her is her determination to be more than average. She makes this list of things she good, okay and not so good at that somehow the mean girl in school gets a hold of and reads aloud, which turns Jordan happy disposition sour. Everyone  is baffled by her cloudy mood as she is normally the sweetest girl. In the end things will be right again for Jordan and she will realize that being average is  just extraordinary.

The narrator does a great job of giving richness and life to Jordan. Which made for two hours of innocent delight. Bolger uses her voice in a way that provides distinction in the gender and age of the characters with the tone of her voice. The sound quality is clear enough without the need to adjust the volume in my car. The reading pace is balanced not too slow or too fast. I think Bolger is perfectly matched for this text as her ability to tap into Jordan personality and give a unique sound is fantastic. The audience that this is geared towards will like her reading this one because she breathes character into this production, which takes talent as not many people can do this and hold the listeners attention. For me personally, she keep me focused on the book or in other words, it wasn't boring. I finished this rather quickly and when it came towards the end, I sat in the car to finish it. Good listen!