Review: A Clatter of Jars

Welcome back to the world of talents in glass jars!

A Clatter of Jars is a companion book to A Tangle of Knots. Lisa Graff returns with new stories that share a glimpse of magic in the real world. Everyone, well, almost everyone, has a special talent which can range from cooking, baking, ice control, or communicating with frogs. Some talents can beckon talents from others while others can move talents from one person to another.

If you are unfamiliar with Graff's Tangle or Clatter, I would recommend reading A Tangle of Knots first and then follow up with A Clatter of Jars. Characters from Tangle appear briefly in Clatter but I believe it is significant enough to read them in order of publication. There are also talent ties to the first novel as well.

The setting for A Clatter of Jars is a summer camp for talented kids. A great story to read during the summertime! Clatter features several talent children who's stories are woven together at camp. It's a good read for a family trip or listening on your own.

Ellen Archer narrates A Clatter of Jars. This is a different narrator from A Tangle of Knots. The differences of stories deserves a different narrator. I liked Archer's narration of Clatter. With the range of characters, I could hear the difference between who was "speaking." I also appreciated the frog sounds throughout the book. Many times we learn the sound of a frog is "ribbit," but the frogs around camp were not "ribbit frogs," so appropriate frog sounds were shared. Looking for more frog sounds? Visit Animal Diversity Web for their page on Frog Calls.


I received this audiobook from Penguin Random House for an honest review. Thank you, Listening Library!

Audio Book Details...
A Clatter of Jars by Lisa Graff
Read by Ellen Archer
Produced by Listening Library
Number of Discs: 4
Total Time: 4 hours, 31 minutes
Release Date: May 24, 2016
ISBN: 9780451485885 / 9780451485892