A full cast dramatizes this story of three Taiwanese kids who are left alone in the U.S. after a vacation while their loving parents return home to support them from afar. Author-illustrator Betty Tang opens this adaptation of her graphic novel by explaining that the English-language dialogue spoken by 10-year-old Feng-Li and her family is halting and heavily accented to emphasize the challenges of the language barrier they encounter. The effortless American-accented English listeners hear when the characters speak Mandarin with one another effectively drives the point home. Voicing the ebullient protagonist, Jenny Chan takes listeners through the highs and lows Feng-Li experiences as she navigates her strange new life. Kenton Chen and Ell also shine as Feng-Li's fully realized older siblings.
(Graphic fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
Duration: 3 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781339004556
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Far-north fun for emerging readers.
Narrator Mark Sanderlin guides listeners through this graphic early reader. When Wally Mammoth challenges friend Wolf to a game of hide-and-seek, it quickly becomes apparent that all-white Wolf has a notable advantage in their Arctic landscape. While their auk pal Otto’s voice is easily recognizable, Sanderlin’s vocal characterizations of Wally and Wolf are not so easily parsed, and they dominate the dialogue. This is one case where the audiobook and the print book should be experienced together. Even then, with no text other than speech balloons, this audiobook counts on its listeners to have some facility with letter and word recognition to accurately follow the banter.
Far-north fun for emerging readers. (Graphic early reader. 4-8)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
Duration: 3 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063478213
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2026
Listeners lose some of the fun without print; with print, they find confusion.
The titular penguins travel through time in this audio rendition of Dempsey’s series-opening graphic novel. When impulsive Splash proposes a tropical HOLIDAY (a fanfare accompanies the word’s every utterance), cautious Pablo is willing to go along…but the beach they find after a chaotic trip has dinosaurs! This agreeable romp has been lightly adapted for audio, relying on sound effects to convey the action. Listeners eager to see the humor those sounds evoke will want to read along with the book—but in the U.S., they’ll find that the print edition has been Americanized, whereas the audio has not. The audio's Briticisms have been “translated”—including the oft-repeated HOLIDAY, which is rendered in print as VACATION.
Listeners lose some of the fun without print; with print, they find confusion. (Graphic adventure. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2026
Duration: 48 mins
DD ISBN: 9781547620951
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2026
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