The Shadow Mask (Sound Bender Series #2)

by Lin Oliver, Theo Baker

Overview

Leo Lomax, the Sound Bender, returns in this globe-trotting sequel.

Leo is back in New York, and things are worse than ever. His Uncle Crane has isolated him from his friends, pulled him from his school, and is keeping him under near-constant surveillance.

When a strange mask once owned by his father begins to draw Crane's attention, however, Leo is presented with a devil's bargain. If he helps Crane find the mask's other half, he can return to his life and his friends. To sweeten the deal, Crane will even pay for a fact-finding mission to check out Leo's parents' plane crash.

There's just one catch. In order to find the mask, Leo will have to travel across the world -- and take it from its rightful owners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545196949
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	01/01/2013
Series:	Sound Bender Series , #2
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)
Lexile:	820L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Lin Oliver is a television producer and writer and the Executive Director of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She coauthored (with Henry Winkler) the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling middle-grade series HANK ZIPZER: THE WORLD'S GREATEST UNDERACHIEVER, and wrote the series WHO SHRUNK DANIEL FUNK? Lin resides in Los Angeles, California.

Theo Baker has had a lifelong fascination with sound. Wizened in Santa Barbara and toughened by New York, Theo has worked as a record producer, a music journalist, a sound designer, and a court reporter, amongst other odd jobs. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Sound Bender
“An involving and interesting read… Sound Bender is alternately sweet and funny, mysterious and adventurous.”
— New York Journal of Books
“A very fun page-turner. Action, adventure, mystery. And some very strange characters.”
— GuysReads.com

From the Publisher

Ms. Oliver and her son Theo Baker have teamed up again for the sequel to Sound Bender, the story of Leo Lomax, a youth who learns he can hear voices and noises coming from relics. Now, Leo feels he must protect himself and his younger brother Hollis from their uncle and guardian, Crane. Although the boys have been told their parents died in a plane crash somewhere over Antarctica, Leo's sound-bending talents lead him to think they are still alive and undercover. In the meantime, greedy and conniving Crane forces Leo to help him find the other half of a valuable and powerful mask. Crane engages in deception and nastiness, but Leo—with the help of friends and natives of Borneo—manages to find the mask. Having learned sly ways from his uncle, our hero wins out and gives the now whole mask back to its rightful owners—the tribe who helped him (and his father before him). The third book in the series is undoubtedly about Leo and Hollis searching in Antarctica for their parents. Although there are strong nods to Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events in this book, the storytelling is strong and provides many jumping off points for classroom discussions on archeology, anthropology, geography, and philosophy. Reviewer: Sarah Maury Swan

Children's Literature - Sarah Maury Swan

At the conclusion of Sound Bender (Scholastic, 2011/Voya December 2011), Leo Lomax was still trying to understand the depths of his power of sound bending, being able to hear the emotional energy absorbed by certain inanimate objects with his "secret ears." To make matters worse, even though he is home in New York, he has been separated from his beloved younger brother, Hollis, by their uncle Crane, owner of a mysterious, perhaps shady, rare antiquities business. The boys' rich and powerful uncle suspects enough about Leo's powers to come up with a scheme to use that power to his benefit. Keeping the brothers apart leaves Leo vulnerable to his uncle's proposition since he is also still coming to terms with his parents' recent deaths. Leo agrees to a trip to Borneo to search for a companion ceremonial mask to one his uncle owns, partly to be reunited with Hollis but also to learn more about the circumstances leading to his parents' disappearance and the possibility that they may still be alive. The concept of sound bending is so interesting and Leo's adventures are so compelling that readers will forgive any implausible plot points and the overabundance of characters for the sake of a fun read. The Sound Benders series is a work in progress, and many readers will remain interested to see where it takes them next. Reviewer: Debbie Kirchhoff

VOYA - Debbie Kirchhoff

Newly orphaned, forced to live with an uncle he never knew he had and trying to cope with a strange new ability to hear the past, Leo's suffering more than normal teen angst. Leo Lomax and his brother, Hollis, were first introduced in Sound Bender (2011), in which Leo discovered how to experience other dimensions simply by touching key objects. Uncle Crane is determined to use Leo to his own ends, counting on Leo to find rare objects of antiquity that he can convert to hard currency. It doesn't matter that Leo wants no part of it; Uncle Crane will force his compliance by separating him from his younger brother, his school and all his friends. Leo finally agrees to help find a missing tribal mask but only if Crane agrees to finance a search in Antarctica to find out what really happened to Leo's parents. The result is an immediate departure for the deep jungles of Borneo, where he finds a lot more than he bargained for. Leo's character has matured, and this sequel is better than its predecessor. However, the adventure remains murky and not all that intriguing, although the brief attempts at humor help to move the story forward. It's clear there will be a third installment, which may help to clarify what all the fuss is about…or not. (Science fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews