Catherine Reef's biography of Queen Victoria shows meticulous attention to detail with its many illustrations and excerpts from letters and diaries. Penelope Rawlins narrates with mixed success. Her British accent and delivery are appropriate. But the biography is aimed at young adults, and her voice lacks the energy it needs to keep young listeners engaged. While her delivery of narrative is smooth and consistent, when quoting from letters, articles, diaries, or conversation, she inserts unexpectedly long pauses before employing voices for the people being quoted. Although the pauses effectively suggest that quotes are coming, the character voices themselves need more variety. Also, Queen Victoria's voice doesn't age as she grows from a teenage princess to an elderly monarch.
(Biography. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2017
Duration: 4 hrs, 45 mins
Publisher: Dreamscape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Riveting. Young adult listeners will learn a lot from Swanson’s overview of John F. Kennedy’s early years, election, and administration—as well as from his minute-by-minute account of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas in November 1963. Will Patton is purposeful and precise as he narrates. With the you-are-there style, listeners ride in Kennedy’s limousine, look down from the Texas School Book Depository, move through the halls of the Dallas police station, fly with the shocked and grief-stricken entourage in Air Force One, and walk with the funeral cortege. With brisk and urgent pacing, Patton voices each factual nugget and lets it hang momentarily before pressing on to the next. Other features include audio excerpts from Kennedy’s inaugural speech and a list of landmarks listeners may want to visit.
Young AdultPub Date: Sept. 24, 2013
Duration: 4 hrs
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Baraka Rahmani brings emotional sensitivity to her narration of the memoir of Badeeah Ahmed, an 18-year-old Yazidi woman who was kidnapped and held in captivity by Isis forces in Iraq. Rahmani is gifted at delivering context. In matter-of-fact tones she weaves information about Badeeah's family, her small town of Kocho, and the Yazidi people, a Northern Iraqi sect with a unique and powerful spirituality. This spirituality, her mother's love, and protecting her nephew, whom she nurtured as her son, sustains her in captivity. While the story is in no way gratuitous in its details, Rahmani's emotive narration reveals the horrific torture Badeeah faces as a sex slave, along with her courage in escaping and healing from the trauma she experienced. A poignant, gripping listen.
(Nonfiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2021
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781773057385
Publisher: ECW Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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