Audiobooks
Most of us have fond feelings of being read to as youngsters — the excitement of wondering what was coming next, the agony when you realized the teacher was stopping right at the best part! Audiobooks can help re-create this pleasure, and many great titles are available from Audible.com, in partnership with Amazon, for immediate download, so you can start listening right away! Here are some of the best recordings of the last five years.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Age Level: 14-16
This perennial reading list title — the story of widowed lawyer Atticus Finch, his children Jem and Scout, the mysterious Boo Radley, and a trial based on false accusations and racism — come alive in the audiobook read by Oscar-winning actress Sissy Spacek.
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
Age Level: 14-16
Teenage Rayona is abandoned by her parents and goes to live with her grandmother, called Aunt Ida, on the reservation where her Mother was raised. Three generations of Native American women are beautifully portrayed in the audiobook by Dorris and acclaimed narrator Rosenblat.
The Wee Free Men
Age Level: 12-14
Humorous and fantastic, this story set in Pratchett's Discworld tells of young witch-in-training Tiffany and her adventures in Fairyland, particularly with the Nac Mac Feegles, the titular wee free men, voiced in all their Scottish naughtiness.
The Thief Lord
Age Level: 9-12
When orphans Prosper, age 12, and Bo, age 5, run away to Venice, they find themselves in the company of a gang of teens who live in an abandoned movie theater and rob the rich to survive. A little bit of mystery, a little bit of fantasy, and a lot of the Venetian setting.
Tadpole
Age Level: 9-12
In 1950's Appalachia, the four Collins sisters and their mother lead a hardscrabble existence. The youngest sister, Carolina, is adrift in search of her niche, when her guitar-playing boy cousin Tadpole unexpectedly arrives to live with her family. Tadpole's beautiful singing and positive outlook encourage the family, but when they learn he's on the run from an abusive uncle they worry that the uncle will come and take Tadpole away.
A Northern Light
Age Level: 14-16
Sixteen-year old Mattie Gokey is an aspiring writer, who has left her family's farm to work as a maid at a resort hotel in the Adirondacks. Set in 1906, Mattie story incorporates the racism, sexism, and class conflict prevalent at the turn of the century. A subplot involves the murder of Grace Brown at the hotel; a story familiar to readers of Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy.
Troy
Age Level: 14-16
This retelling of the story of the Trojan War has all the action and intrigue familiar to those who know the tale, but this version is told through the eyes of teenagers. Geras does an excellent job in making this oft-assigned tale appealing.
Time Stops for No Mouse: A Hermux Tantamoq Adventure
Age Level: 9-12
Hermux Tantamoq is a simple watchmaker mouse. Linka Perflinger is a daring mouse aviatrix, with a watch that needs fixing. When Hermux agrees to do the repair, he falls for Linka and gets dragged into some intrigue involving mad scientists and a garish cosmetics maven mouse. The actor Campbell Scott takes this preposterous scenario and relays it with such relish that even jaded listeners will believe in a city of hard-working and adventurous mice.
Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?
Age Level: 12-14
This delightful Victorian caper is the story of Montmorency, a social climbing gentleman, and his alter ego, the petty criminal Scarper. Scarper moves through the sewers to commit robberies in London's wealthy neighborhoods, while Montmorency flaunts his wealth and lives in a fancy hotel. The action in the sewers adds plenty of grossness to keep this historical tale from being too stuffy. Stephen Fry is the perfect ham to voice our "hero."
How I Live Now
Age Level: 14-16
Set in the near future, this novel won both the Printz Award (in the US) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award (in the UK). Fifteen-year old Daisy is a spoiled American teen with plans to spend the summer in England with her Aunt Penn and her cousins at their farmhouse. While her aunt is away in Norway, an unnamed country invades and occupies England, takes over the farmhouse and separates the boy and girl cousins. The war, coupled with a lack of adult supervision, force Daisy to stop thinking of herself and assume responsibility for her younger cousins.
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Age Level: 0-3
The lilting yet distinguished voice of Josephine Bailey makes this book, a combination of mystery, fantasy, Victorian boarding school tale and feminist novel, seem fully believable. 16-year old Gemma, newly arrived at boarding school, at first has a tough time fitting in, but eventually becomes friends with the girls, as her visions become more real.
Flipped
Age Level: 12-14
A wonderful he-said, she-said story of how young teens go from hate to love (or dislike to like). Through the audiobook, listeners really experience the teens' dialogue.
Feed
Age Level: 14-16
In this dystopian novel, humans' brains are implanted with feeds that tell them what to do, where to shop, even how to think. Titus has always accepted the Feed, but when he begins seeing Violet, a young woman who suffers terrible health problems resulting from a faulty feed, his perspective changes. The audiobook inserts actual feeds to give the listener a real sense of the characters' circumstances.
Blood Red Horse: Book One of the deGranville Trilogy
Age Level: 12-14
Set in the time of the Crusades, this is a horse story, a war story, and a love story, all in one tale of historical fiction. This book is the first in a trilogy, but completely satisfying on its own.
Jazz
Illustrated by: Christopher Myers
Age Level: 9-12
Experience the explosion of color and movement of jazz as you pulsate with its beat in a vibrant series of poems and paintings. This father-and-son team explores a variety of jazz forms in an unforgettable book.
In 2008, the first Odyssey Award for distinguished children's/young adult audiobook was presented to this read-along title. This package brings together the illustrations of the book with the featured Jazz music.
