Author/narrator Nic Stone knocks it out of the park with this fast-paced audiobook. Twelve-year-old Shenice "Lightning" Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds softball team, juggles dual priorities. She's determined to take her all-Black team to a historic championship win, yet as the season progresses, she's distracted by her efforts to prove that her Great-Grampy JonJon didn't commit the crime that ended his trailblazing baseball career. Scenes of softball action and gripping mystery move the story at a brisk clip, which Stone matches with her high-energy performance. She imbues the voices of Shenice and her friends with authentically tween-aged attitude. In a conversational style, she enlivens the adult voices, including those of Shenice's loving parents and elderly Uncle Jack. A pleasing choice for family listening.
(Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
Duration: 3 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593413760
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ken Coleman's expertise as a baseball announcer enriches this history of the Boston Red Sox since the sale of Babe Ruth to the N.Y. Yankees. He leads off with a grim account of this transaction, which started the curse that has plagued the Red Sox ever since. The sermon-like tone will amuse non-believers and comfort listeners who are certain the team is cursed. Like the ups and downs of Boston's play through the years, the narrator's voice fluctuates--exuberant and then despondent--in tone and tempo accurately reflecting the mood of any given baseball season. The narrator is very successful at conveying the emotional roller coaster ride Red Sox fans have endured as a result of the curse of the Bambino.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Though the premise is fantastical, Naudus makes it believable, creating a kind, confident protagonist.
Natalie Naudus narrates this middle-grade mystery set in a remote family camp in northwestern Ontario. Hayley Rilko and her cousins decide to break the Toronto Maple Leafs’ losing streak by contacting the ghost of their great-grandfather, a Leafs star whose body was never found after his plane crashed. Hayley’s family is cursed, and members are forced to quit playing hockey when they come of age. The arrival of her period is a salient point in this coming-of-age story. There is a huge cast of relatives at camp, but Naudus successfully focuses on creating credible family interactions rather than distinctive character voices.
Though the premise is fantastical, Naudus makes it believable, creating a kind, confident protagonist. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2026
Duration: 3 hrs, 39 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217342211
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2026
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