Audio Books

Rating of Recording: * - Poor; ** - Fair; *** - Good; **** - Excellent.

This rating is based on audio quality, performance by narrator, and the suitability of material being turned into an audio book

Avi. The Christmas Rat. Narrator: Jeff Woodman. New York.

Atheneum Books For Young Readers. 2000.

Eric is bored. Everyone is either away or sick. Christmas vacation stretches in front of him with not prospects for anything interesting happening. That all changes when an exterminator, Anja Gabrail, shows up to fumigate Eric’s house. With nothing better to do, Eric agrees to help the exterminator get rid of a rat living in the apartment building basement. Eric’s original revulsion of the rat begins to change and soon he is trying to save the rat’s life. In the days before Christmas Eric learns that being bored is not such a bad thing and sometimes, everything is not what it appears to be. Well-acted. Jeff Woodman lends the right note of malice to Anja Gabrail.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 4.5 hours

Bellairs, John. The House With the Clock in its Walls. Narrator: Jeff

Woodman. New York. Richard Curtis. Inc. 1973.

Louis has to go live with his Uncle Jonathan after his parents are killed in an automobile accident. His Uncle Jonathan is rather odd and lives in an old mansion. Their next-door neighbor, and Jonathan’s best friend, is Mrs. Zimmerman. Louis discovers the mansion contains a secret, a clock hidden somewhere in the house. The clock can be heard ticking day and night, but they can never find the actual clock. Evil magicians, mortal danger, and the end of the world are all part of the mystery of the clock that the Louis, Uncle Jonathan, and Mrs. Zimmerman must face. Well acted. Holds the reader’s attention easily.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 4.5 hours

Creech, Sharon. Absolutely Normal Chaos. Narrator: Kate Forbes. New York.

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 1990.

At the end of the school year, Mary Lou Feeney’s teacher asks her to keep a journal over the summer. Mary Lou grudgingly begins recording the events of her life from the end of school to the last day of summer vacation. The summer begins with the arrival of her cousin, Carl Ray. He has come to Easton from West Virginia to look for a job. In her journal Mary Lou records her efforts to understand Carl Ray, how everyone copes with the death of a neighbor, and what it is like to be in love for the first time. She discovers along the way how her life parallels that of Odysseus, hero of one of the books on her summer reading list, and learns that life is a journey of many twists and turns, where the place you start out for is not always the place at which you arrive. Creech’s heavy reliance on internal monologue makes this selection difficult to listen to.

Quality of Recording - ** Type of Recording – CD Time – 5.5 hours

Duane, Diane. So You Want to Be a Wizard. Performed by Christina

Moore. New York. Donald Maass Library. 1983.

One day, hiding from the bullies who constantly torment her, thirteen-year-old Nita stumbles upon a book in the library. This was a book like no other. The title was So You Want to Be a Wizard. Nita’s interest is roused and she checks out the book. When she opens it, she discovers that the book really is magic and she is offered the opportunity to become a real wizard. Through the magic she meets Kit, a twelve-year-old who is also learning to be a wizard. Together they face a challenge each new wizard, if they want to continue in magic, must face. Through a mis-cast spell, they are thrown into an alternate universe where they must face the Nameless One.

A must-read for all those who can’t get enough of Harry Potter.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 7.5 hours

Duane, Diane. Deep Wizardry. Performed by Christina Moore. New

York. Donald Maass Library. 1985.

This sequel to So You Want to Be a Wizard finds Kit and Nita having to face the Nameless One once again. There is trouble in the ocean; the sea floor is shaking and heaving. Through a series of events they meet another wizard who just happens to be a whale. S’reee enlists Kit and Nita’s help in joining with other whale wizards and singing the spell that will quiet the sea floor, keeping the Nameless One imprisoned. With a rash promise, Kit and Nita agree, never realizing until too late the price one of them must pay, not only for their rashness, but also to save the ones they love from the Nameless One. Readers do not have to have read So You Want to Be a Wizard to understand plot and relationships.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 8.5 hours

Newbery Silver Honor Book

Estes, Eleanor. The Hundred Dresses. New York. Harcourt Brace & Company.

1944

Wanda Petronski is different from everyone else in fourth grade. She is teased by all the girls, but mostly by Peggy and Mattie. Wanda once made the mistake of telling everyone she had one hundred dresses in her closet, along with sixty pairs of shoes. Because she only wears the same faded blue dress to school every day, no one believes her. Wanda endures this treatment until one day when she does not come to school. Several days pass and still no Wanda: she has moved away. What she does leave behind are her one hundred dresses and a lesson to Peggy and Mattie on being different.

Quality of Recording - *** Type of Recording – CD Time – 1 hour

Newbery Silver Honor Book

Fleischman, Sid. The Whipping Boy. Narrator: Jeff Woodman. New

York. William Morrow & Company. 1986.

Prince Horace, because he is the prince, cannot be spanked, not matter what mischief he causes. Jemmy, the son of a poor rat catcher, is plucked from the streets to receive the spankings Prince Horace never gets. Prince Horace, or Prince Brat as everyone calls him, refuses to behave or learn to read and write. Jemmy, who always has to be close by in case a spanking in due, learns everything he can and soon can read and write as well as any educated, well-born child. Late one night, Prince Brat wakes Jemmy to go with him - he is running away. Soon, Jemmy and Prince Brat are captured by Hold Your Nose Harry. Mistaken identities, escape and recapture, and mingling among the simple people teach both boys the value of honor, dignity, and friendship.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 2.5 hours

MacLachan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall. Narrator: Glen Close. Joanna Cotler

Books. 1986.

Anna and Caleb and their father have been lonely, ever since their mother died after Caleb was born. To fill the empty void in their lives, their father advertises for a wife. His ad is answered by Sarah, a woman from Maine. She is willing to travel to their home on the plains to spend a month and decide if she wants to stay permanently. Caleb and Anna immediately like Sarah, but they can tell she is not totally happy about the flat land surrounding their home. Sarah misses the ocean and her life in Maine. Will Sarah stay and be their mother, or will she leave them and return to her beloved Maine and ocean?

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 1 hour

Newbery Author

Paterson, Katherine. The Great Gilly Hopkins. New York.

HarperCollins Children’s Books. 1978.

Galadriel (Gilly) Hopkins is a foster child intent on being one no longer. Her new foster home is a shock to her: a shy, timid little boy (William Ernest), a large foster mother (Mrs. Trotter), and a blind, black neighbor (Mr. Randolph). Gilly does everything she can to be reunited with her mother, even stealing money from Mrs. Trotter and Mr. Randolph and buying a bus ticket to California. Eventually, Gilly learns that the people who love and care about you are the members of your real family and that getting what you want is not always for the best.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 3.25 hours

Newberry Author

Peck, Richard. A Year Down Yonder. New York. Narrator: Lois

Smith. Random House. 2000.

The depression was hard on everyone. There was little work to be had in Chicago. Mary Alice’s parents have taken a one-bedroom apartment and she will have to go live with her grandmother for a while. Mary Alice doesn’t relish spending time with this cold and stern woman. But shortly after she arrives, her grandmother saves her from a bully, in her own way. Over the course of a year, through fox hunting, match-making, and boy troubles, she discovers that Grandma can be warm and generous and someone she will come to love with all her heart.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – Tape Time – 3.5 hours

Newbery Winner

Raskin, Ellen. The Westing Game. New York. Dutton Children’s

Books. 1978.

Sam Westing is dead. The owner of Westing Town, Westing Paper Mill, and the Westing House has been found dead, murdered in his bed. His will states only he knows who murdered him. Westing’s will contains an interesting provision – pairs of tenants will solve his murder, with the winners receiving the entire estate of Sam Westing. The clues they receive are obscure, make no sense. The players have to deal with clashing personalities, blizzards, thefts, and suspicions before they can discover who murdered Sam Westing and why he chose them to play detective.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 4.25 hours

Rylant, Cynthia. The Van Gogh Café. New York. Recorded Books.

1995.

The Van Gogh Café is a magical place. Once a theatre, it now is home to a small café run by Marc and his daughter Clara. A possum brings with it the spirit of piece and reconciliation. Lightening causes wonderful pastries. Magic muffins appear and cure injured children. An old actor returns to the café to meet and old friend. Day by day, new wonders unfold at the Van Gogh Café.

Quality of Recording - ** Type of Recording – CD Time – 1 hour

Selden, George. The Cricket in Times Square. New York. Farrat, Straus &

Gitoux. 1960.

Chester Cricket falls asleep in a picnic basket set in a Connecticut field. When he awakens, he finds himself smack in the middle of one of the busiest places on Earth, Times Square subway station! Chester is found by Mario, who helps his family run their paper stand. Mario is thrilled with his new pet, but his mother is less than thrilled, that is until they all discover Chester’s talent. Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat also welcome Chester to Times Square and the three of them become fast friends. Even though Chester feels fortunate to have found Harry, Tucker, and the Bellini’s, he longs for his stump in the Connecticut countryside. This tale shows that love and friendship sometimes means saying goodbye.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 3.5 Hours

Newbery Winner

Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. Dial Books. New

York. 1976.

Cassie Logan tells the story of her family living in Mississippi during the 1930’s. The Logan family has owned their farm for three generations and her father has no intentions of losing in the Great Depression. While Cassie, her brothers, mother, and grandmother take care of the farm, her father works for the railroad, a job that takes him far from the family. Prejudice is a fact of their everyday lives, from the cast-off books from the white schools they have to use, to the bus driver who daily tries to chase them off the road. But a kind of prejudice Cassie has never experienced before appears in her life during this year. Already one family has lost members to fires set by white supremacists. Will Cassie’s family also suffer the same fate at their hands or will the strength of the family’s love help them survive this year?

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 6 hours

Williams, Barbara. Titanic Crossing. Narrator: Jeff Woodman. Dial

Books/Dutton. New York. 1995.

Titanic. The images it conjures. Thirteen year-old Albert Trask is on his way home to Washington, D.C. with his mother, sister, and uncle. He is thrilled to be leaving dreary, damp London. His only sadness is how much he misses his father. Albert’s father died six months ago from appendicitis. After his father’s death, his mother moved, with Albert and his little sister Ginny, to London. Now they are finally going home. But even the luxuriousness of the Titanic is not enough to lift his mother’s spirits about returning to the States, or gentle his harsh, autocratic uncle. Something is not right between his mother and uncle, but Albert doesn’t know what it is or how to make it better. His father entrusted him to be the man of the family and on the night of April 15, 1912, Albert has to prove he is up to the task.

Quality of Recording - **** Type of Recording – CD Time – 4.5 hours