Nanako Vera Mizushima strikes just the right notes in her narration of this gentle tale of magic and healing in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Amid the chaos, Yui, who is fleeing an abusive husband, and Hiyori, an orphan uprooted from her home, are taken in by a kindly old woman named Ob chan, who is no ordinary granny. Translator Udagawa leaves intact some Japanese vocabulary, and Mizushima transitions from standard English intonation to unstressed Japanese enunciation with casual ease. She gives Ob chan a no-nonsense warmth that steals the show. Listeners will share Yui and Hiyori's confidence in the old woman as they all work together to bring their community back from trauma. A quiet delight.
(Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: April 16, 2024
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593942277
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Sanderlin brings gravitas to the story’s most serious scenes while adding humor to its frequent moments of whimsy.
Mark Sanderlin tells this middle-grade story as the Royal Chronicler, an unnamed adult at an entertaining scholarly remove from the adventures of the main characters. Eleven-year-old Olly leaves his younger sister, Jenny, at home when he reluctantly goes out to find work, a necessity for kids in their struggling community. Their bleak reality becomes more colorful when Olly’s first job ends up being at a secret refuge for endangered dragons, and when Jenny develops magical powers. As they stumble into a quest to save the fantastical species, Olly and Jenny’s dialogue sounds convincingly kidlike, a nice contrast with the chronicler’s news anchor-style delivery of the rest of the prose.
Sanderlin brings gravitas to the story’s most serious scenes while adding humor to its frequent moments of whimsy. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
Duration: 7 hrs, 24 mins
DD ISBN: 9798898850296
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
A magical blending of fantasy and reality.
Narrator Emily Eiden's expressive rendition of Auden "Denny" Greene and her best friend Runa is feminine and childlike, suitable for a tale of girls on the cusp of turning 12. Denny and Runa manifest their active imaginations in a magical world they call Sorrowfeld, filled with dragons and princesses, but Denny is dismayed to find that Runa seems to be growing out of this world and into a new phase of her life. Denny, however, still needs the escapism of Sorrowfeld to cope with challenging circumstances in her real life—while in Sorrowfeld, Princess Auden struggles against actual dragons.
A magical blending of fantasy and reality. (Fantasy. 8-13)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063348189
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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