Listener alert! Author and narrator Jon Scieszka will have you laughing out loud. When boy scientist Frank Einstein sets out to make a smart robot, hoping to win the Midville Science Prize and get his family out of debt, neither T. Edison nor drones nor clueless parents can stop him. Aided by Smartbots Klink and Klank and Grandpa Al, Einstein creates a smashing entry and also outsmarts his archenemy. The duo of Scieszka and Brian Biggs narrates with aplomb. Characters pop with personality as each narrator uses his vocal talents to create an ebullient and persevering Einstein, an ever optimistic and wise grandfather, and a too-big-for-his britches T. Edison. Not only is the wordplay droll, but the robot voices are animated to perfection.
(Science fiction/humor. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
Duration: 2 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9780553396980
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Themes of AI versus personhood, ethics, love, and memory deepen the audio’s warmth and heartbreak.
Summer 2.0 is an android continuing the life of deceased 11-year-old Summer Dillon. Narrator Amber Dekkers fully realizes 2.0’s first-person narration, conveying a complex mix of her AI dispassion; her confusion about gaps in her uploaded memories; her relationship with Summer’s sister, Alice; and her fear that she will go offline before she’s able to embrace her existence. As Dekkers gradually peels back the layers, 2.0, along with listeners, grows to understand more about the grieving family and is torn between continuing to try to live Summer’s life and accepting her own individuality. Dekkers turns up the tension as 2.0 discovers a duplicitous scientist and starts glitching.
Themes of AI versus personhood, ethics, love, and memory deepen the audio’s warmth and heartbreak. (Science fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
Duration: 7 hrs, 38 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063444331
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2026
Glick's animated delivery is a great match for this unique peek at a common but surprisingly enigmatic creature.
Maxwell Glick narrates this nonfiction book about eels and scientific exploration with audible amusement and enthusiasm. Glick is humorously upbeat as he reveals how little we actually know about the threatened but once-ubiquitous eel. Young listeners will be able to imagine that they are eels and may be surprised to learn that for many years, people believed Aristotle’s theory that eels sprang spontaneously from mud. Author Day shares interesting tidbits, such as the fact that all American and European eels originate from and eventually return to the Sargasso Sea. But perhaps the most humbling fact is that scientists still don't know everything—especially when it comes to eels.
Glick's animated delivery is a great match for this unique peek at a common but surprisingly enigmatic creature. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
Duration: 20 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217352708
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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