NPR reporter Cokie Roberts pays homage to the heroic women whose patriotism and sacrifice helped create our nation. Roberts spotlights early influential women—heroines, reformers, and visionaries all—including Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Sacagawea, Eliza Hamilton, and Martha Jefferson. Narrating with vivid insight, bemused wonder, humor, and a soft Southern accent, Roberts sheds a fresh perspective upon the lives of these strong, brave women, who were captivated by America's birth and political intrigue, even amidst personal hardships. A small weakness is the absence of pauses before and after quotations (mostly from letters), which causes some confusion as to what is a quote and what is text. Overall, though, Roberts is an insightful and passionate reader who delights in her subjects' daily lives, triumphs, outrages, and humor. A.W. 2009 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
(Informational picture book. 8-11)Pub Date: April 8, 2008
Duration: 10 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780061262630
Publisher: Harper Audio
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: April 21, 2026
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