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I'm From the Sun: The Gustafer Yellowgold Story
Exclusively on Audible, an original from Morgan Taylor, two-time Grammy® nominated songwriter, cartoonist and author, for ages 7 and up. Music produced by Patrick Sansone of Wilco.
“I know how hard it is to shine. We live on the Sun for gosh sake…” – Cracklin’ Walter Shinewell
The top-notch songwriting and deeply imaginative setting shows why The New York Times describes the story of Gustafer Yellowgold as “Dr. Seuss meets ‘Yellow Submarine’,” and Variety magazine calls Taylor’s creation “Intelligent, endearing and slightly subversive.”
Ride along with 9-year old “sunling” Gustafer, in this otherworldly, melancholy musical comedy that takes place entirely on our closest star - The Sun! As if the stress of the annual Tiger Face holiday season wasn’t enough, the young sun-dweller Gustafer must face the nasty neighborhood bullies and overcome his fear of telling his father the awful truth: he doesn’t want to inherit the family raisin-butchering business. Despite help from his best friend Ellen and over-achieving big brother, Ben, Gustafer faces the ultimate crossroad when he sees a darker opportunity to control his own destiny on the Sun.
Enjoy a special bonus in Chapter 15, with an exclusive album full of the music featured in the Audible Original I’m From the Sun.
“I know how hard it is to shine. We live on the Sun for gosh sake…” – Cracklin’ Walter Shinewell
The top-notch songwriting and deeply imaginative setting shows why The New York Times describes the story of Gustafer Yellowgold as “Dr. Seuss meets ‘Yellow Submarine’,” and Variety magazine calls Taylor’s creation “Intelligent, endearing and slightly subversive.”
Ride along with 9-year old “sunling” Gustafer, in this otherworldly, melancholy musical comedy that takes place entirely on our closest star - The Sun! As if the stress of the annual Tiger Face holiday season wasn’t enough, the young sun-dweller Gustafer must face the nasty neighborhood bullies and overcome his fear of telling his father the awful truth: he doesn’t want to inherit the family raisin-butchering business. Despite help from his best friend Ellen and over-achieving big brother, Ben, Gustafer faces the ultimate crossroad when he sees a darker opportunity to control his own destiny on the Sun.
Enjoy a special bonus in Chapter 15, with an exclusive album full of the music featured in the Audible Original I’m From the Sun.
Audible Audio
Published October 5, 2018
13 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Morgan Taylor
2 books10 followersAfter a dozen or so years in the Dayton, Ohio indie-rock scene, mostly self-taught musical and visual artist Morgan Taylor moved to NYC in 1999 in pursuit of a life in the arts. While primarily focusing on songwriting and performing, Taylor honed his skills as a professional sound engineer. By 2004 he brought his love of drawing into the blend to self-produce the first Gustafer Yellowgold picture books, with cartoon images depicting the lyrics of some of his quirkier indie-folk pop songs. The books soon became animated, read-along music videos. The strong reaction from fans and press inspired Taylor to hit the stage with an early version of his multimedia concert in spring of 2005; within three years, he was full-time into the world of Gustafer. Over 2,000 live performances, eight CD/DVD albums, and two Grammy nominations later, Taylor is just hitting his creative stride with the Gustafer Yellowgold series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
October 10, 2018
I got this from the selection of free Audible Originals for October. It's clear a lot of effort went into the production, and the music actually isn't bad, but overall I feel like it suffers from the usual issues of kids books. Mainly, authors seem to believe that a story for kids can get away with not explaining things and having inconsistencies. A lot of the nonsense in this case comes from the story being about people on the sun. The problem with that is that the author didn't actually craft a world that felt alien, and naming so many things after fruit and animals certainly didn't help. But really, it seemed to me that the whole reason that the story was supposed to be taking place on the sun was a gimmick to provide a fun cover for the book to make it more appealing to kids. It's sad to see a story pretending to be full of imagination when it isn't.
July 14, 2019
No. I could not wait for this to finish. It was dreadful.
The only thing that makes me give this 2 stars, instead of 1, was this one song that is still playing in my head and the fact that Gustafer and I both dislike raisins.
"I'm from the Sun...blah blah blah".
I was bored most of the story and all the singing drove me absolutely bonkers.
It was like a musical. I understand a song here and there, but every 10 minutes?
Why? Just why?
I hated just about every other song here, but to be fair, I am hardly a target audience for this story, so my own fault for picking it up.
Plot: 1
The description sounded pretty good to me. Something different, original. I enjoy exploring every now and then and venturing out of my usual range. This one, however, was a mistake. I guess comes with the territory of venturing out and exploring, huh?
The plot was utterly boring to me. Nothing about it interested me or kept me going. I do read quite a bit of Middle Grade and YA titles, and there are a ton that I love, but this one was just a big miss. All I cared about was for it to come to an end since I do not leave stories unfinished.
Its the principle of the matter for me.
Sun here is basically Earth. Everything works exactly the same with minor differences, like head shape and the fact that everyone loves raisins. Also something about Sunling hearts. I don't remember what anymore. I was just plowing through it to put it behind.
Characters: 2
Run of the mill protagonist, a couple of bullies that bully him, a sympathetic girl that cheers him on, a family that has their own ideas about Gustafer's future without asking him and a Sun's "legend" that moved into the neighborhood.
All felt standard, same...run of the mill. Blah Blah Blah.
Setting: 1
Same problem I described with the plot. Sun was just not different enough. There was so much here that could have been awesome. Instead, we are stuck with Earth as we know it and every behavior we know here is there on the Sun. Everyone looks similar to us, except their heads. And this random love of raisins was driving me crazy. Also, does not help that I cannot stand raisins.
That was one thing Gustefer and I had in common. We both can't stand raisins.
That's it. Nothing else.
No recommendation here. Just run away.
Roman "Ragnar"
November 21, 2018
This was a lot of fun. The description of this audio as a cross between yellow submarine and Dr. Seuss is about right. It's not a really deep story, but you really get to like Gustafer and watching him navigate bullying and the expectations of family as well as a golden child older brother. I found the music catchy, although I have to admit I liked listening to them more at the end because there were times when I wanted the story to continue and I didn't want it interupted by the music, ha! I ended up listening to this after listening to a number of serious books, so it was a perfect break. Overall I'm glad I decided to use my orignals credit on this!
October 17, 2018
Super cute book. Fun story and characters. The production was extremely well done.
December 23, 2018
(audible)
Fantasy children's story of a young boy who lives on the Sun.
Gustafer Yellowgold has an older brother who's in college, a genius and an inventor. His parents run a Carvery and he works delivery food orders, washing cars and mowing the lawn. He has dreams of doing something other than running the family business but sees no way to make those dreams come true. He's afraid of disappointing his family. There's a couple of obnoxious spoiled kids who bully him in the guise of being friends. It could be a melancholy kind of tale, but surprisingly it isn't.
Gustafer meets his hero and is given some very important words to live by. His one true friend also offers some insights and perspective that encourage Gustafer to be honest with his parents about how much he dislikes the mainstay of the family business.
The story line creates opportunities to engage with young readers to think about what the author has imagined. Great opportunities for dialogue and fun thinking about other enhancements to the storyline in this "other world".
But the best part of this audio book is the music. Taylor is also a Grammy nominated musician and songs pepper the chapters turning the storyline somewhat into a musical. The songs are extensions of the story.
Morgan Taylor is also a cartoonist and that clearly influences the characters he created in this story.
Here's a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV2ok...
Fun for family listening. Catchy songs. (Added audio bonus: the last chapter is all of the songs in a single playlist.) Witty descriptions of the land, food, colors, hobbies and festivals create many opportunities for talking about the book outside of reading/listening to it. This encourages reading for comprehension as well as opportunities to expand imagination and creativity with young readers.
RECOMMEND
(p.s. but not very scientifically consistent. Be careful if your reader is a scientist, they will only punch holes in the plot line.)
Fantasy children's story of a young boy who lives on the Sun.
Gustafer Yellowgold has an older brother who's in college, a genius and an inventor. His parents run a Carvery and he works delivery food orders, washing cars and mowing the lawn. He has dreams of doing something other than running the family business but sees no way to make those dreams come true. He's afraid of disappointing his family. There's a couple of obnoxious spoiled kids who bully him in the guise of being friends. It could be a melancholy kind of tale, but surprisingly it isn't.
Gustafer meets his hero and is given some very important words to live by. His one true friend also offers some insights and perspective that encourage Gustafer to be honest with his parents about how much he dislikes the mainstay of the family business.
The story line creates opportunities to engage with young readers to think about what the author has imagined. Great opportunities for dialogue and fun thinking about other enhancements to the storyline in this "other world".
But the best part of this audio book is the music. Taylor is also a Grammy nominated musician and songs pepper the chapters turning the storyline somewhat into a musical. The songs are extensions of the story.
Morgan Taylor is also a cartoonist and that clearly influences the characters he created in this story.
Here's a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV2ok...
Fun for family listening. Catchy songs. (Added audio bonus: the last chapter is all of the songs in a single playlist.) Witty descriptions of the land, food, colors, hobbies and festivals create many opportunities for talking about the book outside of reading/listening to it. This encourages reading for comprehension as well as opportunities to expand imagination and creativity with young readers.
RECOMMEND
(p.s. but not very scientifically consistent. Be careful if your reader is a scientist, they will only punch holes in the plot line.)
October 24, 2018
I was initially enchanted in this audible original book/musical. It was creative, and fun and the songs were catchy. After a bit though, I developed ennui with the story--a very hackneyed plot of a son not wanting to take over his dad's business.
Also, the creativity about renaming every single thing in this new world on the sun after flowers and animals and fruit was fun in the beginning, but it wore on me--it became so constant--it was creativity on overdrive. It was a reminder that everything on the sun was so different that it got in the way of enjoying the story. I'm still not ever sure that I liked the main character, Gustafer. He seemed lazy, he lacked integrity, lacked a work ethic, and he whined a lot.
I'm still shaking my head a bit at the ending which came out of left field.
The production quality was amazing. I imagined that a kid with a dad in production had come up with a juvenile story, but that his dad had produced it pulling out all of the stops, distracting the listener from a mediocre story.
At the end I repented a bit when I found that the author of this story also wrote all of the music, sang the music, played many of the instruments on the soundtrack, and narrated every voice in the entire story. Just hearing that one person did it all raised it from a 3 star to a 4 star book.
My 11 year old listened to this separately from me and had a more glowing review. I think he'd give it at least 4.5 stars.
Definitely a fun family car trip listen. Appropriate for the whole family, catchy music, and fabulous production, albeit a bit weird.
Also, the creativity about renaming every single thing in this new world on the sun after flowers and animals and fruit was fun in the beginning, but it wore on me--it became so constant--it was creativity on overdrive. It was a reminder that everything on the sun was so different that it got in the way of enjoying the story. I'm still not ever sure that I liked the main character, Gustafer. He seemed lazy, he lacked integrity, lacked a work ethic, and he whined a lot.
I'm still shaking my head a bit at the ending which came out of left field.
The production quality was amazing. I imagined that a kid with a dad in production had come up with a juvenile story, but that his dad had produced it pulling out all of the stops, distracting the listener from a mediocre story.
At the end I repented a bit when I found that the author of this story also wrote all of the music, sang the music, played many of the instruments on the soundtrack, and narrated every voice in the entire story. Just hearing that one person did it all raised it from a 3 star to a 4 star book.
My 11 year old listened to this separately from me and had a more glowing review. I think he'd give it at least 4.5 stars.
Definitely a fun family car trip listen. Appropriate for the whole family, catchy music, and fabulous production, albeit a bit weird.
October 26, 2018
When I first heard the music to this story I immediately thought of the animated movie The Point! Well, I don't really remember the movie but I remember Harry Nilsson's song Me and My Arrow. I have been singing that song since the 70's. While this music for this is a little more sophisticated, it brought memories of this.
As a bookseller and a Children's Lead, I regularly suggest that parents read certain books with their children. While I have suggested to parents that they may want to try an audiobook for their child, I have never suggested that they listen to it with their child. This is going to change. This is one of those stories that I think parents should listen to with their child. It would be great for a road trip, bedtime story or just turning off the Xbox or tv and sitting down to enjoy.
The characters, while living on the sun, are relatable. There are layers to this story. Something for everyone. A young child can take away something from this book but so can an adult. I'm glad that I discovered this.
As a bookseller and a Children's Lead, I regularly suggest that parents read certain books with their children. While I have suggested to parents that they may want to try an audiobook for their child, I have never suggested that they listen to it with their child. This is going to change. This is one of those stories that I think parents should listen to with their child. It would be great for a road trip, bedtime story or just turning off the Xbox or tv and sitting down to enjoy.
The characters, while living on the sun, are relatable. There are layers to this story. Something for everyone. A young child can take away something from this book but so can an adult. I'm glad that I discovered this.
October 24, 2018
This was a short and cute book that I got for free (as part of the audible originals two free titles per month benefit). The story is geared towards kids, and I can see where it would be appealing to them. I thought that the entire production was well down, with the music included. I have to say, the first song "I'm from the Sun" is an ear worm; I caught myself humming that all day at work!!!!
I like the bonus chapter that contains the entire music score for this story. I listen to the narration on 1.75 or 2, which didn't work well with the songs interspersed with the story. However, all of the songs are included at the end and are uninterrupted with narration, so I was able to enjoy them at regular speed. The words also made more sense listening to them after knowing the full story.
I like the bonus chapter that contains the entire music score for this story. I listen to the narration on 1.75 or 2, which didn't work well with the songs interspersed with the story. However, all of the songs are included at the end and are uninterrupted with narration, so I was able to enjoy them at regular speed. The words also made more sense listening to them after knowing the full story.
January 29, 2019
This story is funny, unique, interesting, and has a great message for both kids and adults. Morgan Taylor does a fantastic job of narrating his tale.
In fact, the only thing I didn't like about this Audible Original is all the music. A few songs would've been fine, but there were just too many. It was basically a musical in audiobook form.
I noticed that the last "chapter" was 44 minutes long (much longer than all the others), and I was hoping it would be a condensed, songless version of the story. Nope. It was a storyless version of the songs. That was a little disappointing, but the story was awesome enough to make up for 44 minutes of music in an audiobook.
In fact, the only thing I didn't like about this Audible Original is all the music. A few songs would've been fine, but there were just too many. It was basically a musical in audiobook form.
I noticed that the last "chapter" was 44 minutes long (much longer than all the others), and I was hoping it would be a condensed, songless version of the story. Nope. It was a storyless version of the songs. That was a little disappointing, but the story was awesome enough to make up for 44 minutes of music in an audiobook.
May 8, 2019
This is such a cute kids story of Gustafer who lives on the sun in a very imaginative world created by Morgan Taylor. The mix of creative quirkiness, fantastic narration and music made this a hit for my kids (13, 11, 9 years old). Although, I would say it is geared towards younger kids, it is still a book that is going to be enjoyed by all and is a must in audio format because of all the fun music that goes with it. This is the story of a boy who feels stuck in what his parents want for him and what he truly wants to do... it shows you that dreams need to be shared and tried... and we have our areas where we can shine bright. Simply a wonderful story for the whole family.
November 2, 2018
This was a free download from Audible for October. Initially, I was excited to share with the babies, but I didn't have much patience with this one. I didn't buy into the 'cuteness' of this children's book.
The story is about a sunling named Gustafer. He is unhappy with his parents, with his chores, and pretty much with everything. Life improves in the end, although there seems to be one catch which I will let you read to discover.
I didn't like what I perceived as Gustafer's hopelessness and helplessness. I don't have time for that.
The story is about a sunling named Gustafer. He is unhappy with his parents, with his chores, and pretty much with everything. Life improves in the end, although there seems to be one catch which I will let you read to discover.
I didn't like what I perceived as Gustafer's hopelessness and helplessness. I don't have time for that.
January 27, 2022
This is a good upper elementary book. I loved the way the song was mixed in with the story. I think the themes of being at odd’s with your parents dreams for you would start to be relevant in this group. I loved his relationships and I thought the ending was a lot of fun too. I’d definitely listen to a follow up story. It’s a 3.5 star book but I rounded up because I felt the overall GR rating was a little low.
January 22, 2020
This is delightful, and absolutely unlike anything else out there. The story is unique, engaging, suspenseful, weird and super fun. The songs are out of this world (out of this Sun?) and get stuck in your head in the best possible bubblegum-pop way. Music reminds me of ELO, Wilco and The Shins. Totally fun. The narration, voices and sound effects are great and combine to make the whole story play like a movie inside your brain. Our whole family really loved this. Perfect for long car rides!
February 4, 2022
I just love musicals and I wasn't spectinf this audio book to be one. I really enjoyed it
Read
October 14, 2018No, sorry, don't need to relive being the unfavored child, dealing with bullies and humiliation.
July 20, 2022
Great children’s book! Every kid will enjoy it!
October 12, 2018
Nothing like I have ever read before. I have never ordered a book with a child's theme yet adult issues as well and accompanied with a musical thrown in throughout. It was light, fun, fast and done in one session. After reading many biographies, history books, and political books lately this was a nice quick get away from what we are facing in real life and the plunge the stock market took the past few days.
If looking for easy and light hearted fun and don't mind a musical thrown in, this may be just what you are looking for. I personally would like to see a short cartoon movie made of this. Enjoy. 👍💟😎
If looking for easy and light hearted fun and don't mind a musical thrown in, this may be just what you are looking for. I personally would like to see a short cartoon movie made of this. Enjoy. 👍💟😎
November 10, 2018
It's not really a book, it's more a performance, but I received it from Audible's member original offer and had to give it a listen. It's cute -- really cute. The musical portions of the tale are straight out of a rock opera. One of the songs about a daredevil's fancy putterbike, the Hot Malt Eagle, reminds me of something out of The Who's Tommy. Gustafer Yellowgold is an human-like alien that lives on the sun. His story is a coming-of-age tale finding oneself, making a mark, standing up to bullies and earning respect. It's fun and I'll likely listen to it again in the future.
October 26, 2018
A good children's story.I truly enjoyed this audible version. The story line and songs made me fill like a young girl again.
October 29, 2018
I am not the target demographic for this book.
June 18, 2022
I listened to this on Audible and I enjoyed it. This was a lot of fun and I liked the music.
December 7, 2018
Audible free listen. Not a favorite for me, Zach might like it?? Anyway the biggest dislike for me was the music - drove me crazy.
October 8, 2019
Completely wasted a promising premise.
April 14, 2019
This started out good and then devolved to a strange ending that left us scratching our heads. Lots of catchy music though, and the kids seemed to like it.
May 12, 2019
It was an okay story. The music was catchy, and the characters are interesting. It reminded me of Yellow Submarine. I think it's a great story for kids. They would really get into it.
March 9, 2019
I read this for my own entertainment as an adult. Knowing it was intended for younger audiences, I initially tolerated the quirky parts of this audio production. Some of these I grew to really dislike, and some actually work well. The story rates pretty high on the creative scale; I was bored with most of the never-ending songs, though.
The underscore of continual sound stage squelches, sneezes, and squeaks came unexpected to me. They seemed unnecessary ... until by the middle of the first chapter they were already playing into the tone and experience of this audiobook so seamlessly! I was especially impressed by the sound byte (pun intended) of a certain type of fruit's little squeaky sound it makes when it's chewed. The sound was described in the spoken words of the story -- but then expressed sonically as well. The adaptation was perfect!
I also did not expect each chapter of this "book" to include at least one fully produced radio-length rock song. Two of these I enjoyed. Otherwise they seemed out of place and only serving to derail the narrative. The lameness of many of the lyrics lent to this, especially since the story writing. Maybe middle grade kids going through struggles similar to the main character would enjoy indulging in these whining ditties?
As for the story, it is in some ways predictable. But where it counts, it delivers original twists and interesting developments. One particular thing pleased me: I noticed when the main character made a specific decision about the town bike race. It was an understated or implied internal decision; if you aren't paying attention you could probably miss it. But the very next paragraph, the author talks about that decision openly. I appreciated how he didn't insult my intelligence as a reader (no matter my age) but assumed I had caught on, instead of making out like this was supposed to be some great reveal.
I would recommend this title to people who don't mind a big stretch on believability nor a chunky portion of goofiness. A last note on that: I would say "Skip the songs" if they don't immediately appeal to you. But I still give my compliments to the chef: the plump and juicy word choice, fine flour and sugar of the narration, and that cartoony underscore as the extra touch of love and care bake up a nice raisin loaf of yumminess.
MPAA ratings: PG for language and for dangerous/scary situations.
The underscore of continual sound stage squelches, sneezes, and squeaks came unexpected to me. They seemed unnecessary ... until by the middle of the first chapter they were already playing into the tone and experience of this audiobook so seamlessly! I was especially impressed by the sound byte (pun intended) of a certain type of fruit's little squeaky sound it makes when it's chewed. The sound was described in the spoken words of the story -- but then expressed sonically as well. The adaptation was perfect!
I also did not expect each chapter of this "book" to include at least one fully produced radio-length rock song. Two of these I enjoyed. Otherwise they seemed out of place and only serving to derail the narrative. The lameness of many of the lyrics lent to this, especially since the story writing. Maybe middle grade kids going through struggles similar to the main character would enjoy indulging in these whining ditties?
As for the story, it is in some ways predictable. But where it counts, it delivers original twists and interesting developments. One particular thing pleased me: I noticed when the main character made a specific decision about the town bike race. It was an understated or implied internal decision; if you aren't paying attention you could probably miss it. But the very next paragraph, the author talks about that decision openly. I appreciated how he didn't insult my intelligence as a reader (no matter my age) but assumed I had caught on, instead of making out like this was supposed to be some great reveal.
I would recommend this title to people who don't mind a big stretch on believability nor a chunky portion of goofiness. A last note on that: I would say "Skip the songs" if they don't immediately appeal to you. But I still give my compliments to the chef: the plump and juicy word choice, fine flour and sugar of the narration, and that cartoony underscore as the extra touch of love and care bake up a nice raisin loaf of yumminess.
MPAA ratings: PG for language and for dangerous/scary situations.
July 17, 2020
It was a little too predictable, but what do you expect from a children's book? The songs were numerous and reasonably good. (It is mostly talking with a tune behind the singer but the singer has a good voice.)
The story: Gustafer lives on the Sun. He delivers raisins for his father's business, but he hates raisins and he doesn't want to take over the business. He has figured out a scheme so that he never has to do this again. His brother would win a race in order to supplement his father business, but now Gustafer will have to take his brother's place and win the race. Of course, if he loses, then his father's business will fail and Gustafer won't have to take over the business. Hooray!
Any problems with this story? Gustafer was a gutless weasel. Everything turned out OK in the end and Gustafer eventually realized what a weasel he was, but most of the story is about his whining while his girlfriend is trying to be encouraging until finally he even turns her off. I assume this was done in order to teach a lesson to be yourself, but as far as I could tell, Gustafer WAS being himself. Granted, he was being mercilessly pick on by the neighborhood bully, but Gustafer's solutions to his problems seems grossly self-centered and selfish.
Any modesty issues? Not really.
I liked the music. The story was predictable but what do you expect. Overall if I had to sit through it with kids in the car I'd be fine with it. No problem. I would point out what a weasel Gustafer was though.
The story: Gustafer lives on the Sun. He delivers raisins for his father's business, but he hates raisins and he doesn't want to take over the business. He has figured out a scheme so that he never has to do this again. His brother would win a race in order to supplement his father business, but now Gustafer will have to take his brother's place and win the race. Of course, if he loses, then his father's business will fail and Gustafer won't have to take over the business. Hooray!
Any problems with this story? Gustafer was a gutless weasel. Everything turned out OK in the end and Gustafer eventually realized what a weasel he was, but most of the story is about his whining while his girlfriend is trying to be encouraging until finally he even turns her off. I assume this was done in order to teach a lesson to be yourself, but as far as I could tell, Gustafer WAS being himself. Granted, he was being mercilessly pick on by the neighborhood bully, but Gustafer's solutions to his problems seems grossly self-centered and selfish.
Any modesty issues? Not really.
I liked the music. The story was predictable but what do you expect. Overall if I had to sit through it with kids in the car I'd be fine with it. No problem. I would point out what a weasel Gustafer was though.
August 21, 2020
This was such a fun listen! It’s a kids’ book and has a lot of music as part of it. I mean, like a lot. The setting and characters are well-drawn.
Gustafer Yellowgold lives on the Sun, which, as you can imagine is a really different sort of place. Gustafer and his friends like to ride their putter bikes, pretending to be their favorite comic book heroes.
The favorite, and most common, food of Sunlings is raisins, which grow on trees there. Gustafer, however, doesn’t like raisins, which is unfortunate, since his family’s business is a raisin butchery.
He already has to help out there after school and weekends even though he is only nine. Gustafer is already contemplating the depressing prospect of spending the rest of his life working in the raisin butchery.
There is an issue of a big putter bike race which Gustafer’s brother has been winning for the past five years to keep the family business running with the prize money. He is expected to win again until he is felled by a raisin allergy, and Gustafer suddenly finds himself expected to enter and win this race which he had not expected to even enter until the next year.
Through his adventures, Gustafer learns a lot about himself and the important things in life with the help of his family and friends and his hero.
Gustafer Yellowgold lives on the Sun, which, as you can imagine is a really different sort of place. Gustafer and his friends like to ride their putter bikes, pretending to be their favorite comic book heroes.
The favorite, and most common, food of Sunlings is raisins, which grow on trees there. Gustafer, however, doesn’t like raisins, which is unfortunate, since his family’s business is a raisin butchery.
He already has to help out there after school and weekends even though he is only nine. Gustafer is already contemplating the depressing prospect of spending the rest of his life working in the raisin butchery.
There is an issue of a big putter bike race which Gustafer’s brother has been winning for the past five years to keep the family business running with the prize money. He is expected to win again until he is felled by a raisin allergy, and Gustafer suddenly finds himself expected to enter and win this race which he had not expected to even enter until the next year.
Through his adventures, Gustafer learns a lot about himself and the important things in life with the help of his family and friends and his hero.
December 28, 2018
So this was another of those free Audible books and I have to say it wasn't a bad listen. This audio book is the kind that has full sound effects as well as a number of full songs in it. With regard to the production value its very well made and the music is actually pretty good. However, with regard to the story I find it quite lacking. Allow me to explain, I'm aware that the book is made for children so my complaint isn't the simplicity of the story it's the fact that at no point in time does the main character actual learn anything and the lessons "taught" are so convoluted in random happenstance and "deus ex machina" events that I cant say there is a lesson at all. The world building in this story is pretty good all things considered but it suffers from a strangely adult logic to the child-like wonder that at times pulled me out of the story. Over all I would say it's good for the whole family to listen to as a group but I would recommend it to a kid for a "solo" listen or a school project.
March 30, 2022
I got this for free from audible a few years back when you could pick 2 bonus shorts a month. Finally got around to listening to it recently. What a struggle. I love kids books, don't get me wrong, maybe the age group this is written for is just lower than my normal range. Maybe it was all of the musical numbers jammed into and between chapters, maybe it was the concept of a habital zone on the sun that my adult sciency brain couldn't process. I just couldn't really get interested until I was mostly through it. The story itself isn't bad and the author does a pretty good job of various voice characterizations and if you have younger ones or don't mind preschool songs intermixed in your audiobook this might be something you enjoy. As for me I probably won't be continuing the series and I'm giving it a 3 star mostly for the audiobook narration.
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