Narrator Rosalyn Landor's purposefully pretentious English accent fits this campy horror story, which is heavy on narrative and listener asides. Anastasia learns of her parents' tragic vacuum cleaner accident from her aunties, Prim and Prude. They whisk her away to their fortress-like home, the former St. Agony's Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Landor creates a matter-of-fact Anastasia, while Prim and Prude's voices are appropriately prim and prudish. When Anastasia seeks explanations for the spooky wailing (provided by sound effects) or the mysterious boy wearing a birdcage, her creepy aunties explain that it's part of the "authentic Victorian experience." Anastasia soon discovers that the said experience is a front for something beastly dreadful. This is the first in a planned series.
(Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 28, 2015
Duration: 6 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781101891650
Publisher: Listening Library
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
Naeymi’s narration is both raw and triumphant.
Samara Naeymi beautifully narrates this middle-grade novel about an Iranian American girl. Bullied by her classmates for her frizzy hair and thick eyebrows and criticized by her mother for her weight, Yasmin struggles to be her authentic self in a world that tells her she's not good enough. There are many different perspectives in this story, and Naeymi is true to each: Yasmin’s judgmental mother, with her Persian accent and steely belief in her own harsh parenting; the ruthless teenagers whose hurtful comments cause emotional harm; the younger brother concerned for his sister's unhappiness; and the tried-and-true best friend.
Naeymi’s narration is both raw and triumphant. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 24, 2026
Duration: 4 hrs, 51 mins
DD ISBN: 9798349114861
Publisher: Dreamscape
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2026
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