Take equal parts of JUMANJI and A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS; add in trolls, elves, automatons, and lost civilizations; remove all humor; and you get something like M.T. Anderson's offbeat adventure. Two boys from Boston take a trip to Vermont to stay with Uncle Max. They arrive at the strange mansion to find a Victorian lifestyle and an old wooden game board that leads them to ceremonial mounds, strange creatures, and an ancient battle between warring kingdoms. The story is purposefully off-kilter, with Marc Cashman's dry, precise, and percussive style complementing Anderson's writing. Anderson and Cashman are both skilled at their crafts, overall, the result is an unsettling and unsatisfying challenge.
Ages 8+Pub Date: Dec. 13, 2005
Duration: 7 hrs
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: N/A
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Live Oak Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Author Daniel Nayeri voices his story of a grandmother who is guiding her grandchild through the steps of weaving a traditional Persian rug. The eager child tells the story with an eye toward creating the perfect rug, but Grandma encourages her young assistant to recognize that perfection is not the goal. Instead, the rug needs to be right for its purpose. Young listeners unfamiliar with Persian rug designs who read the print edition alongside this audiobook will benefit from seeing its vivid watercolor illustrations. But all listeners will hear what Nayeri's warm tones clearly convey. This sweet family story is told with Nayeri's affection for his culture and its intergenerational traditions.
(Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2025
Duration: 9 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217156924
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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