Author Michael Bornstein was only 4 years old when he and his grandmother left Auschwitz, liberated by Russian soldiers. Narrator Fred Berman brings gravitas to the events of this memoir while still creating a voice for Michael that sounds young and vulnerable. Berman also excels at the use of Yiddish, Polish, and German accents where needed to create a sense of the time and place. Bornstein and his daughter, coauthor Debbie Bornstein Holinstat, are charmingly natural and emotionally affecting in the preface and afterword, explaining why Bornstein felt compelled to share his story after more than 70 years. They have an easy banter that helps the listener understand Bornstein's sunny outlook despite the difficult circumstances of his early life.
(Memoir. 11-14)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781427283191
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Riveting. Young adult listeners will learn a lot from Swanson’s overview of John F. Kennedy’s early years, election, and administration—as well as from his minute-by-minute account of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas in November 1963. Will Patton is purposeful and precise as he narrates. With the you-are-there style, listeners ride in Kennedy’s limousine, look down from the Texas School Book Depository, move through the halls of the Dallas police station, fly with the shocked and grief-stricken entourage in Air Force One, and walk with the funeral cortege. With brisk and urgent pacing, Patton voices each factual nugget and lets it hang momentarily before pressing on to the next. Other features include audio excerpts from Kennedy’s inaugural speech and a list of landmarks listeners may want to visit.
Young AdultPub Date: Sept. 24, 2013
Duration: 4 hrs
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Narrators Jeff Cummings and Adenrele Ojo give refreshing energy to 14 wide-ranging essays about the global upheaval and social shifts of the year 1968. Both narrators provide a scholarly tone to the broad- reaching discussion of social movements like the Cultural Revolution and the Prague Spring. They strike an introspective tone for the more personal stories, one focusing on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, assassination and another reveling in the freedom of riding bikes across the country. Elizabeth Partridge's poem "Nightly News," woven throughout, captures the mounting body counts of the War in Vietnam. Though sophisticated and balanced, the diversity of this anthology suffers some with only two narrators. Overall, though, the authors add helpful context to a year bursting with newsworthy moments fit for comparison to our own time.
(Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2018
Duration: 6 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781978644236
Publisher: Brilliance Audio/ Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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