Mummy's Little Soldier: A Troubled Child. An Absent Mum. A Shocking Secret.

By: Casey Watson

Narrated by: Kate Lock

Casey’s Unit is, as ever, full of troubled, disaffected pupils, and new arrival Leo is something of a conundrum.

Thirteen year old Leo isn’t a bad lad – in fact, he’s generally polite and helpful, but he’s in danger of permanent exclusion for repeatedly absconding and unauthorised absences. Despite letters being sent home regularly, his mother never turns up for any appointments, and when the school calls home she always seems to have an excuse.

Though Casey has her hands full, she offers to intervene for a while, to try get Leo engaged in learning again and remaining in school. The head’s sceptical though and warns her that this is Leo’s very last chance. But Casey’s determined, because there’s something about Leo that makes her want to fight his corner, and get to the bottom of whatever it is that compels this enigmatic boy to keep running away. With Leo so resolutely tight-lipped and secretive, Casey knows that if she’s going to keep this child in education, she’s going to have to get to the bottom of it herself…

©2016 Casey Watson (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Not my favorite

The narrator sounded so sanctimonious. It drove me nuts. It was painful to listen to.

nice story, I'm done with the narrator.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I didn't finish this book once I found out what was going on with Leo and my curiosity was satisfied.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Kate Lock, the narrator, over. enunciated. e-vvv-eeee-rrrrrrrr-yyyyyy little. word. I had the speed at 1.25x and it was still getting really annoying. I tried increasing the speed to 1.5x but the extreme differences in the volume of her voice causes words at the end of sentences to drop out entirely at this speed. She tends to under-enunciate the last few words of every sentence in a lower voice.

On top of the over-enunciating, she has a contrived cadence - it sounds like she's reading a mother goose fairy tale to a toddler, and is trying to keep the child's attention by sounding surprised or sing-song-y.I have another audio book by Casey Watson which is also narrated by Kate Lock "Runaway Girl" which I will keep because I found the story interesting enough that the narration does not detract from it too much. Mummy's Little Soldier is not about one child, but multiple children with the central arc around Leo. As the story is more complex and nuanced, I found the narrator especially frustrating as her style of narration makes every character sound exactly the same, which makes a multiple-character story line difficult to follow because you have to pay attention to the names of the people who are speaking. I am going to avoid books read by this narrator in the future.

Great book but not great reader

This is another great story of how a classroom teacher can make a difference getting at the bottom of things with the student. Helping the student move forward, and etc. However, I can hardly stand the reader heard voice inflection goes up-and-down up-and-down and she emphasizes odd parts of sentences it was very difficult to get through because of that.

Soooooooo gooooooood ¡!!!!!!!!!!??

As usual, reading Casey's book a makes me a kinder, better person. Enthralling book.

Would have like to have heard the whole story

The story honestly made me feel a bit sorry for the kids in her class that Casey didn't choose.

Obviously, Leo was the pet project for the year. But what about the other kids in her class. Maybe if Carl had gotten more individual attention his 1st placement wouldn't have been so bumpy and he and his brother wouldn't have been so angry.

And poor Ria, sure it might have helped her learn to be more nurturing, but what about her testing and potential. For all accounts, prior to her struggles with sexuality, she was a bright kid with a lot of potential. I felt like her needs got shoved to the back burner.

Finally there was Daryl, who, obviously, could have benefited from more individualized care, but it seems as if the aide, Kelly, spent a good deal of time handling the class, while Casey was out sleuthing.