The Absence of Sparrows

June 10, 2019
In their community of Griever’s Mill, Ben Cameron, 11, and his brother Pete, 12, witness the first “darkening,” a storm that looks “like coal smoke, the kind you’d see billowing out from a locomotive, all thick and dark woolen gray.” The darkness leaves behind a single victim, local grocer George Crandall, who is turned into an obsidian glass statue, just like hundreds of people across the country. Kirchmeier’s debut novel focuses on two brothers’ very different attempts to try to save their family and the world from horrific events. While Ben focuses on the birds in the backyard, tracking their comings and goings to determine if his theory that they are guiding souls back to their glass-ified bodies is correct, Pete becomes more obsessed with the voice on the radio claiming that the only way to end the darkness is by shattering all the glass-ified people. Creepy and engaging, Kirchmeier’s story delves into sibling relationships, mental health, and survival. Ben grapples with bullies, the loss of a parent, and questions about faith and the afterlife, and Kirchmeier uses the character’s increasingly anxious voice to effectively toe the line of real-world horrors and fantastical terrors. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ali Herring, Spencerhill Associates.

Narrator Will Collyer brings realistic emotion to this creepy audiobook about a terrifying plague. Ben, 11, and his brother Pete, 12, witness the first of many mysterious, random storms that are turning people all over the world into obsidian glass statues. The two brothers then make very different attempts to try to avert impending doom. While Ben thinks that birds are involved, Pete becomes obsessed with a theory that shattering the glass-ified people will end the plague. Collyer expresses Ben's anxiety in measured tones, keeping it under the surface but palpable. His serious, straightforward narration makes the horror of this gripping story seem like it could happen anywhere. S.C. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine