VOYA
- Debbie Kirchhoff
When you are thirteen, everything starts changing, but in main character Leo's case, the changes are unusually extreme. Leo is still dealing with being orphaned when he discovers he possesses a unique power. The familiar phrase, "if these walls could talk," is turned on its ear in Sound Bender because Leo really can hear what certain inanimate objects have to say. The power he has been given allows him to experience strong emotional events that occurred in the past by touching the objects, which somehow absorbed emotional energy as the event occurred. The story of how Leo was given this power begins to unfold as he and his brother move to their new home with their Uncle Crane in a different part of New York City.
