Eleven-year-old Calpurnia Tate is growing up on a Texas farm with six brothers in 1899. She longs to learn more than what her mother is teaching her—proper comportment, cooking, and sewing. Callie has a raging curiosity and wants to know about everything from Darwin to Dickens. Thanks to her eccentric, educated grandfather, she discovers the science of the world around her. She begins to imagine a future as a scientist, keeping a scientific journal and thrilling at each new discovery. Natalie Ross delivers this first-person story with a bouncy lilt that fits Calpurnia's inquisitive spirit. Also noteworthy are Ross's portrayals of Calpurnia's social-climbing mother and the transformation of her grumpy grandfather into an admiring science partner.
Ages 12+Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2009
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
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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