Kurt Kanazawa offers a heartfelt presentation of Kim's biography of Japanese American basketball player Wataru Misaka (19232019). Wat's talent and determination earned him a spot on the University of Utah's basketball team, where, during WWII, he competed successfully despite harrowing opposition from spectators. Kanazawa nimbly delivers the story of Wat's life, describing how he later visited Japanese Americans at the nearby Topaz internment camp, served in the U.S. military, played for the New York Knicks during the 194748 season, and completed his engineering degree. Though some listeners may be distracted by volume changes in the production, they will be drawn in again by Kanazawa's skillful performance. He balances the triumph of Wat's accomplishments with a sober recounting of the adversity that shaped his life.
(Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 18, 2024
Duration: 20 mins
DD ISBN: 9798892742115
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ken Coleman's expertise as a baseball announcer enriches this history of the Boston Red Sox since the sale of Babe Ruth to the N.Y. Yankees. He leads off with a grim account of this transaction, which started the curse that has plagued the Red Sox ever since. The sermon-like tone will amuse non-believers and comfort listeners who are certain the team is cursed. Like the ups and downs of Boston's play through the years, the narrator's voice fluctuates--exuberant and then despondent--in tone and tempo accurately reflecting the mood of any given baseball season. The narrator is very successful at conveying the emotional roller coaster ride Red Sox fans have endured as a result of the curse of the Bambino.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A perfect portrayal.
Nickel reads her imaginative picture-book biography of Hans Christian Andersen in a fairy-tale tone. She weaves the facts of the famous storyteller’s life together with a sense of whimsy, stressing rhythms and repetitions that captivate. It’s as if she embodies the storytelling spirit of the poor shoemaker’s son who possessed a nose “two times as long” and a heart “two times as tender” as everyone else around him. Nickel’s narration and writing are as inventive as Andersen, who, when rejected by theaters, dance studios, and choirs, created cut-paper characters while he told children his tales. The man who saw himself as an ugly duckling is finally admired as “the most beautiful swan of all.”
A perfect portrayal. (Picture-book biography. 5-7)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
Duration: 6 mins
DD ISBN: 9798898851132
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: today
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