As she walks down the sidewalk with her dad past the park and school and into the Laundromat where they load the family's dirty clothes into the machine, Trixie doesn't miss a thing. Her father does, and therein comes the fun. Audio doesn’t get more authentic than having the real-life characters themselves narrate their own story. Just as her character does in the book, toddler Trixie Willems’s voice steals the show from her parents. Her coy descriptions of family pictures, authoritative sentence completions, rising angst, and outrageous outbursts are endearing. Dad Mo Willems narrates with high drama; Mom Cheryl adds a mother’s straightforward sensibility. Listeners will come back again and again to hear the pleasures of a universal family experience. A.R. 2007 Audies Award Winner © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
(Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2006
Duration: 7 mins
Publisher: Weston Woods Studios
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Liam Aiken narrates this prequel to the Series of Unfortunate Events in a somber, deadpan tone that heightens its dark humor. As a teenaged Lemony Snicket investigates a series of arsons in a town called Stain’d-by-the-Sea, Aiken creates voices that delineate character and help keep clear the large cast of Snicket’s associates, enemies, and enemies that turn out to be associates. Aiken’s tone of quiet urgency will keep listeners hooked through wordplay, mysteries, good meals, romance, and the appearance of a new villain named Hangfire, who hoodwinks adults, frames a librarian, and kidnaps all the children in town. This smart and funny listen will please Snicket fans and create new ones.
(Mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781478955733
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
While narrator Liam Aiken evokes the wistful, dolorous tone of Snicket’s second mystery in his All the Wrong Questions series, he fails to deliver Snicket’s signature snark with appropriate vigor. In this episode, the main character, 12-year-old Lemony Snicket, continues the investigations that began in STAIN’D BY THE SEA with the case of the missing chemist, Cleo Knight. As Aiken delivers Snicket’s declarative sentences in a deadpan voice, his remote reading keeps listeners distant from the story. Furthermore, Aiken does not always play up the quirks of the town’s eccentric characters. When he does use individualized voicings, the story shakes off its languidness to some degree. Aiken’s melancholy narration echoes Snicket’s loneliness but doesn’t enliven the recording for young listeners. An attached PDF file includes the character Seth’s illustrations.
(Mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
Duration: 4 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781478924845
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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