She’s edgy, conspiratorial, and more than dramatic! Narrator Tara Sands portrays Abbie Wu during her first days of middle school. Abbie is convinced that everything about “middle” is doomed and that life will be “Abbie Wu against the middles.” As she records her days and dreams, listeners may come to different conclusions. Sands embraces the whole scene and is fully believable as Abbie despairs over her nearly perfect older brother, gnashes her teeth over which elective to choose, wears her heart on her sleeve, is incensed about cafeteria food, and thinks nothing of going off on a tirade. Sands speeds up the narration in spots, mirroring Abbie’s anxious states and convictions—whether they reflect the probable or the improbable. Listeners will also chuckle over Sands’s portrayal of Abbie’s mother and her rendition of the vice principal’s voice over the intercom.
(Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
Duration: 1 hr, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780062571489
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
While narrator Liam Aiken evokes the wistful, dolorous tone of Snicket’s second mystery in his All the Wrong Questions series, he fails to deliver Snicket’s signature snark with appropriate vigor. In this episode, the main character, 12-year-old Lemony Snicket, continues the investigations that began in STAIN’D BY THE SEA with the case of the missing chemist, Cleo Knight. As Aiken delivers Snicket’s declarative sentences in a deadpan voice, his remote reading keeps listeners distant from the story. Furthermore, Aiken does not always play up the quirks of the town’s eccentric characters. When he does use individualized voicings, the story shakes off its languidness to some degree. Aiken’s melancholy narration echoes Snicket’s loneliness but doesn’t enliven the recording for young listeners. An attached PDF file includes the character Seth’s illustrations.
(Mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
Duration: 4 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781478924845
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Jeff Harding voices the many impactful moments of 1919 in this engaging nonfiction audiobook. From women activists fighting for the right to vote to the Red Scare and civil rights riots, Sandler draws parallels to today's social issues. Harding matches 1919's cadence with a forward-moving pace. He uses different accents for quotations, though the women and people of color might have been better served with a diverse cast. The asides and timelines that appear in the text also are in the audio. Full of fascinating stories put into a modern context, this audiobook offers much to learn about an eventful year and ponders the big questions of our current time.
(Nonfiction. 11-16)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2020
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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