Nekia Renee Martin takes listeners back in time in this middle-grade fantasy. When Dally's grandfather died, their days of adventure ended--but he left behind a map to the mysterious Secret Library. There Dally travels back to the time of her family's first secrets, experiencing them alongside her forebears. Martin's characterizations are deft and nuanced. Dally's widowed mother, a patrician white South Carolinian, is all business in the now, but in the secret times of her life that Dally visits she warms with youthful passion as she falls in love with Dally's Black father. Other secrets introduce 1850s-era pirates Eli and Pete; Martin voices their swashbuckling thrills and intimate moments with equal ease. As Dally's adventures take her to dangerous times and places, Martin's assured voice carries listeners through with aplomb.
(Time-travel fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
Duration: 10 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593943045
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Narrator Michael Boatman is once again a master of vocal sound effects in this third installment of the Skunk and Badger series: the ErrrrrRRRRR of a rock tumbler tumbling, the scutch-scutch of snowshoes moving over snow, the Beed-el-LOO-bing! of a banjo being plucked. Raising two precocious young rats in Aunt Lula's brownstone, Skunk and Badger find themselves in way, way over their heads. And how is Badger going to get his article for ROCK HOUND WEEKLY finished with all of the distractions?! Boatman captures the mayhem in a high-energy, fully committed performance, differentiating the animal characters, emphasizing the many all-caps words and phrases, and using his voice to paint a picture of a family life that's chaotic, cozy, and loving.
(Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
Duration: 4 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781649041180
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Narrators Madeleine Curry and Valerie Gutierrez provide lively voices for a story that takes place in a multiverse. Two girls live in parallel versions of a town called Rockdale. Twelve-year-old Piper lives with her parents and her robot dog, Roody. Raisa lives in the parallel Rockdale with parents who are scientists. Each girl is on a mission: Raisa transports herself to Piper's Rockdale to prove her mother's theory of parallel worlds, while Piper is working to free her parents from the force field that is trapping them in their home. As the chapters alternate, Curry and Gutierrez give the girls expressive voices that make them believable. Their pacing adds to the excitement of the story, keeping listeners engaged.
(Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781668651773
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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