How do you tell the story of the horrific suffering of an innocent child who grows up to become a hopeful woman? Two narrators use three distinct styles in telling this true story of Sachiko, a child survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing. In this third-person account, Katherine Fenton makes a vocal distinction between Sachiko's childhood memories of the bombing and her later life. With youthful innocence, Fenton describes Sachiko’s burning feet, dirt-choked lungs, and other agonies. She utilizes a more matter-of-fact tone for Sachiko’s later reflections. John Chancer is unsentimentally informative as he delivers historical and political background information needed to understand Sachiko's story in the context of world history. An author’s note begins and ends the book.
(Biography. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2016
Duration: 3 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781520063034
Publisher: Dreamscape
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
Listeners will be inspired by this principled prime minister who tackled her country’s biggest challenges with...
Aspiring leaders, take note! In her Kiwi accent, Jacinda Ardern narrates this heartfelt and sincere adaptation of her memoir A Different Kind of Power, eliciting chuckles with amusing anecdotes and tears over tragedies. Ardern recounts her modest childhood, her unlikely path to politics, and her rise to New Zealand’s highest office as a young, pregnant, unmarried woman—armed with empathy, intelligence, faith, supportive loved ones, and a desire to serve. She shepherded her country through a volcanic eruption, Covid-19, and a mass shooting. Her heartrending narration of the shooting switches to steely resolve as she works to ban assault rifles.
Listeners will be inspired by this principled prime minister who tackled her country’s biggest challenges with kindness. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2026
Duration: 5 hrs, 55 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217342044
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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