A lively musical jingle sets the stage for this sweet story about family, friendships, and rediscovering love. When Truly's grandparents join the Peace Corps, her family is left with the task of running the failing bookstore in Pumpkin Falls. Narrator Amy Rubinate's range of pitches and speech patterns depicts the colorful characters who inhabit the small town. Rubinate's clear diction and crisp, effervescent delivery of dialogue add to the fast pace of the imaginative mystery that unfolds when Truly discovers a letter in a valuable edition of CHARLOTTE'S WEB. While Rubinate's modulations are sometimes overdone, her voice for the young protagonist is springy and light, effectively capturing Truly's youth, curiosity, and likability.
(Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2015
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: Ideal Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Live Oak Media recently caught our attention with this new read-along book and cassette program. We listened first, and were so delighted we couldn't wait to get the book. The picture book made the experience even better, but the audio recordings was strong and vibrant by itself. THE GARDENER, Sarah Stewart's Depression-era story of a young girl sent to live with her Uncle Jim in the city has a sweet, wistful quality with narration alone, but coupled with David Small's soft-edged pencil illustration, it's a total delight. The reading is repeated on both sides of the tape, one with and without page-turning signals.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Live Oak Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This engaging, uplifting summer read reminds listeners that happiness is often found in unexpected places.
This thoughtful and humorous coming-of-age story set in the late 1990s is a memorable listen. Narrator Mindy Escobar-Leanse shines as Gigi, a 12-year-old girl spending the summer at Camp Shir Gershon, a Jewish bungalow colony in upstate New York. Despite being there with her older sister, Yasmin, and her father, who works as the camp handyman, Gigi doesn't feel like she fits in and plans to run back to her mother in Brooklyn. As she begins to make friends and explore her family history and cultural links, listeners will feel like they are part of her journey. Escobar-Leanse infuses Gigi and the story as a whole with warmth and a feeling of connection while also capturing the insecurity, excitement, and uncertainty of growing up and discovering who you are.
This engaging, uplifting summer read reminds listeners that happiness is often found in unexpected places. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
Duration: 5 hrs, 59 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063372290
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2026
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