Leo Lomax and his brother, Hollis, lost their parents in a plane crash and are sent to live with their father's step- brother, Crane. Crane imports and sells mysterious and expensive artifacts and lives in a futuristic building in the run-down depths of Brooklyn. Leo turns 13 the day they move and learns that he has a special ability to bend sound which means that when he touches certain objects, he can hear their past.

For example, he knows that a girl's pen was a gift from her father. But Leo's yearning to find a purpose for this gift takes him on an adventure to a special island.

In SOUND BENDER, Lin Oliver and her son, Theo Baker, do a nice job with Leo's 13-year-old character, giving him enough slang without going overboard. Baker, a deejay, has a strong interest in sound like Leo, and this comes through.

The writing style is definitely more toward action than literary, but while a little out there, the tale is believable enough and will keep your interest. While it may appeal to boys more than girls, I certainly think girls, especially those with an interest in science and sound, will enjoy it.

Leo's character is the most well-developed along with his mentor, Jeremy and his best friend, Trevor, a tall boy who opts to study science rather than play basketball. The lesser characters like Crane and his staff have a more cartoonish quality, but as Leo is the center of the story, SOUND BENDER as the beginning of a series and would be interested in seeing more stories of Leo's adventures.