This true account comes from Gabriela, a survivor of the Guatemalan Civil War of the 1980s. Amber Sealey brings a matter-of-fact practicality to Gabriela, a 14-year-old girl who can climb higher than any boy in her Mayan village. Climbing trees saves her when the soldiers come to brutalize her village. She escapes and goes to a refugee camp, but the soldiers come again, and, again from high in the trees, she observes the beating, rape, and murder of innocents. Ben Mikaelsen's simple, direct language and Sealey's passionless voice produce a much-needed disconnect between the listener and the atrocities described. Sealey doesn't sensationalize, yet she manages to impart the horrors Gabriela witnesses, her resentment against the American government for supporting the soldiers, and her survivor's guilt. Grim, graphic, and powerful.
Young AdultPub Date: Jan. 22, 2009
Duration: 4 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Listeners follow Merry, the longbow girl, one of the best archers in her town. When she finds a magical portal in the forest that takes her back to sixteenth-century Wales, she must use her skills to win an archery contest in order to help her ancestors keep their land. While narrator Emily Wilden brings protagonist Merry to life with a rich Welsh accent, her narration seems uneven at times. All the period characters have accents that reflect the setting of the story and transport listeners to Wales. Listeners who enjoy historical fiction and a bit of fantasy will be charmed by this tale of determination, hope, and family.
Young AdultPub Date: N/A
Duration: 11 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781501916793
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
In 1832 thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle is sailing from Liverpool to Rhode Island to rejoin her family. Shocked to discover that the families who were to have been both guardians and companions will not accompany her, Charlotte embarks on a journey filled with terror and swashbuckling adventure. The first-person narrative makes this Newbery Honor book a wonderful choice for recording. O'Karma's reading, with its hint of cross-gender differentiation, allows the listener to feel as if Charlotte Doyle herself were relating the tale. This story should be particularly alluring to adolescent girls although the fast-paced action and the nautical setting will also appeal to male listeners. Ages 12-adult.
Ages 12+Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 6 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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