Em Grosland takes center stage as Al in this full-cast sequel to PICTURE DAY. The titular tryouts refer to the Brinkley Martians baseball team, which has never had a girl in its lineup. Talented catcher Al is the first, but the outsized--and unwelcome--attention she attracts threatens the team's cohesion. Lessons of teamwork and persistence ground the story, while swiftly paced dialogue adds humor. Greg Vinciguerra as Al's little brother, Theo, an aspiring play-by-play announcer, steals many scenes. In a subplot, Al's friend Viv (voiced by Felisha Wong) tries to resurrect Brinkley's former mascot, a goose, whose full hideousness will be best appreciated by kids who listen along with the print edition of this graphic novel. A solid hit.
(Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
Duration: 1 hr, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593865262
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Far-north fun for emerging readers.
Narrator Mark Sanderlin guides listeners through this graphic early reader. When Wally Mammoth challenges friend Wolf to a game of hide-and-seek, it quickly becomes apparent that all-white Wolf has a notable advantage in their Arctic landscape. While their auk pal Otto’s voice is easily recognizable, Sanderlin’s vocal characterizations of Wally and Wolf are not so easily parsed, and they dominate the dialogue. This is one case where the audiobook and the print book should be experienced together. Even then, with no text other than speech balloons, this audiobook counts on its listeners to have some facility with letter and word recognition to accurately follow the banter.
Far-north fun for emerging readers. (Graphic early reader. 4-8)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
Duration: 3 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063478213
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2026
Listeners lose some of the fun without print; with print, they find confusion.
The titular penguins travel through time in this audio rendition of Dempsey’s series-opening graphic novel. When impulsive Splash proposes a tropical HOLIDAY (a fanfare accompanies the word’s every utterance), cautious Pablo is willing to go along…but the beach they find after a chaotic trip has dinosaurs! This agreeable romp has been lightly adapted for audio, relying on sound effects to convey the action. Listeners eager to see the humor those sounds evoke will want to read along with the book—but in the U.S., they’ll find that the print edition has been Americanized, whereas the audio has not. The audio's Briticisms have been “translated”—including the oft-repeated HOLIDAY, which is rendered in print as VACATION.
Listeners lose some of the fun without print; with print, they find confusion. (Graphic adventure. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2026
Duration: 48 mins
DD ISBN: 9781547620951
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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