Narrator Jorjeana Marie expresses all the youthful longing of 12-year-old Crow. Crow was just hours old when she was discovered by Osh and Miss Maggie, two inhabitants of an isolated Massachusetts island. Marie portrays the fierce love of these guardians. Osh is wise and enigmatic, and Miss Maggie, strong and bold. When Crow's questions about her original family can't be stilled, Osh and Miss Maggie tenderly support her piecing together of her fragmented past. When a villain appears, Marie's depiction of his ruthless menace contrasts with Crow's growing courage and sense of self. Overall, Marie melds conflict and tenderness beautifully in this tale of family and belonging. The author's brief postscript expresses her caring for place, history, and characters.
(Historical fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: 2017
Duration: 7 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781524775032
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:
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Live Oak Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Cousins Avery and Jax don't have much in common, including their feelings about a summer at their family's crumbling island vacation home. She thinks it's a great adventure, and he'd rather be anywhere else. Narrator Kate Coventry embodies Avery's open, exuberant, and sometimes thoughtless behavior, while Pete Cross makes clear to listeners how much quiet Jax is impacted by his father's overbearing nature. As they help clean the place up to sell it, they find pages torn from a diary that may uncover what drove their parents away from the island and each other years before. Cassandra Morris's brief narration of the mysterious diarist is compelling in its simplicity. Narrators Kate Coventry and Pete Cross provide vivacity to this exploration of family history and regrets.
(Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: 2025
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798225027049
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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