Adan Rocha narrates a story of self-discovery set in Florida during the COVID-19 lockdown. Eleven-year-old Lalo is confined to his apartment; he attends video school with a neighboring classmate while his widowed mother works long hours as a nursing assistant. On top of the pervasive fear and boredom of lockdown, Lalo struggles to remember both recent events and his father, who died when he was 5. Maybe he can make a time machine to help? Rocha's emotionally muted narration befits the worry that pervaded the pandemic. He switches smoothly from Lalo's English to the accents of those around him: his neighbors, his Mexican-American mother, his barely recalled Haitian father. Rocha's evocation of Lalo's older brother's sneering bravado is particularly affecting.
(Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593744376
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
Devon warmly depicts a quirky and loving family with his engaging performance.
Narrator Chris Devon returns for a bravura performance of this sweet, silly, and poignant second installment in Wood’s series. Seagull Gully and badger Septimus are busy raising their three chicks, and an already hectic household becomes that much more chaotic when a group of forest badgers comes for an extended visit. They want to dig a den where?! With his British accent and excellent pronunciation of Italian words, Devon immerses listeners in their various adventures and misadventures and conjures the many delights of the seaside town where they live. Gully’s dialogue consists exclusively of “Caw,” and Devon injects impressive variation and emotion into each utterance.
Devon warmly depicts a quirky and loving family with his engaging performance. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
Duration: 2 hrs, 52 mins
DD ISBN: 9798349115998
Publisher: Dreamscape
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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