The Fire-Eaters

by David Almond
audiobook on CDs, Hennepin County Library, 3:54
Read by Daniel Gerroll

Mary Verbick recommended this story. I found it very disturbing, but also touching. Bobby Burns is the main character, a boy growing up in a working class family. He is worried about his father's illness, has mixed feelings about his new school, loves Ailsa Spink, and is fascinated by McNulty. McNulty is the fire eater who asks Bobby to help him choose a skewer and collect money from his audience. His madness and seeming imperviousness to pain draw Bobby in to his world.

This would be a fantastic discussion book - why does is the title plural? Who are the other fire-eaters? Bobby? Joseph? How does his new neighbor alter Bobby's reality?

Gerroll's accents make this an auditory delight! He nails the characters and their various ways of speaking beautifully!