Imparting life to talking mice, rats, bats, and cats would present a challenge to any narrator, but Roe Kendall manages the job with skill and imagination. A group of mice lives in an abandoned house, where they create a comfortable community for themselves, staying purposefully away from “The Grille,” which leads to the sewers, the land of their enemies, the rats. All is well until Albert Brown wanders through the sewer grille, and his children and friends are compelled to follow, despite dire warnings about the kingdom below. Bats in the attic offer fortune-telling services, and a ship mouse joins the search for the missing neighbors. Roe Kendall gives each creature a distinctive voice. Her performance facilitates the story’s required suspension of disbelief.
Ages 8+Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2003
Duration: 8 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
It's a delicate business to present a character who speaks in dialect, and Terry Bregy does a craggy and credible job as Robert's stern but loving Vermont Shaker father. Robert himself is presented with two separate voices. The first speaker is the man reliving the time during which he came to understand the joy and sorrow of life; the second is the boy who is the only surviving son of a dying father. Bregy is able to convey a sense of age and experience as well as a sense of innocence. His reading draws the listener into the continuing debate about traditional values. This is very good recording of a powerful book.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 1993
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Audio Bookshelf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Mia Winchell is a synesthete--her brain is wired to taste, read, and hear in color. Narrator Danielle Ferland portrays a young person who is both ordinary and unique. Ferland is strong in depicting Mia's wry humor as she struggles with siblings and friendships while coping with her own perceptions. Vivid word pictures cascade throughout this sensual story. Mia's cat purrs in mango spheres, and her music produces shapes in the air. But she has the experiences of average kids as well, and with youthful sincerity Ferland expresses her frustration over homework and her despair over losing family members. This audiobook brings alive a unique young person and her rare gift.
Young AdultPub Date: April 26, 2007
Duration: 7 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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