Ciaran Saward's zany delivery is perfect for a young audience that thrives on silly nonstop action and striking sound effects. Selfish, bullying Monkey is sent into space but soon crash-lands in a forest, which he decides to colonize. When genial Bunny realizes this, he gathers Pig and Weenie Squirrel--all humorously rendered--to save their peaceful home from the intruder. Seward incorporates instructional tidbits, for example, how bats navigate. The most fun are Skunk, Monkey's megalomaniac inventor, and French-accented Le Fox, who just wants to be left alone. Sound effects such as the snoring of a hibernating bear take listeners into the action. Audio enriches delightful wordplay, and older audiences will hear references to current events.
(Graphic fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: July 1, 2025
Duration: 3 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781038029454
Publisher: Bolinda Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Far-north fun for emerging readers.
Narrator Mark Sanderlin guides listeners through this graphic early reader. When Wally Mammoth challenges friend Wolf to a game of hide-and-seek, it quickly becomes apparent that all-white Wolf has a notable advantage in their Arctic landscape. While their auk pal Otto’s voice is easily recognizable, Sanderlin’s vocal characterizations of Wally and Wolf are not so easily parsed, and they dominate the dialogue. This is one case where the audiobook and the print book should be experienced together. Even then, with no text other than speech balloons, this audiobook counts on its listeners to have some facility with letter and word recognition to accurately follow the banter.
Far-north fun for emerging readers. (Graphic early reader. 4-8)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
Duration: 3 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063478213
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2026
Listeners lose some of the fun without print; with print, they find confusion.
The titular penguins travel through time in this audio rendition of Dempsey’s series-opening graphic novel. When impulsive Splash proposes a tropical HOLIDAY (a fanfare accompanies the word’s every utterance), cautious Pablo is willing to go along…but the beach they find after a chaotic trip has dinosaurs! This agreeable romp has been lightly adapted for audio, relying on sound effects to convey the action. Listeners eager to see the humor those sounds evoke will want to read along with the book—but in the U.S., they’ll find that the print edition has been Americanized, whereas the audio has not. The audio's Briticisms have been “translated”—including the oft-repeated HOLIDAY, which is rendered in print as VACATION.
Listeners lose some of the fun without print; with print, they find confusion. (Graphic adventure. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2026
Duration: 48 mins
DD ISBN: 9781547620951
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2026
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