Listeners will enjoy the sound of waves that accompanies Lynette Freeman’s stirring narration of environmentalist MaVynee Betsch’s life. During segregation and Jim Crow, American Beach, located on an island near Jacksonville, Florida, was one of a few Black seaside resorts. Freeman’s tone swells with Betsch’s love of the place where she swam and played as a child, and quiets with sorrow when she finds it abandoned and neglected after integration. As the “Beach Lady” becomes a part of the local culture, growing her hair long and marching on the governor’s office to protest commercial development of the beach, the narration turns slyly playful and firmly confident. Freeman captures the spirit of a woman who knows that her mission is to save a priceless piece of history.
(Picture book/biography. 6-12)Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2021
Duration: 13 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593552292
Publisher: Listening Library
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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