If you long to make the acquaintance of someone extraordinary in the most extraordinary of circumstances, Newbery-winning author Sharon Creech had best introduce you to Dinnie--Domenica Santolina Doone--who has been spirited off to an international boarding school in Lugano, Switzerland, at the age of 13. Bonnie Hurren understands Dinnie all too well, her longing for permanence in the world, her feelings of displacement in a family whose love is as abundant as its disorganization and poverty. Hurren's first-person narration captures Dinnie's no-nonsense attitude with its deep underlying desire for some other life. Additionally, as a welcome respite from Dinnie's earnestness, Hurren delivers a fiercely accented Italian Grandma Fiorelli; frequent and wildly funny postcards narrated by Dinnie's drawling Southern aunts, Grace and Tillie; and the exuberant Italian exclamations of Dinnie's new best friend, Guthrie. A lively cast of characters is fully realized.
Ages 10+Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2000
Duration: 5 hrs
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
While narrator Liam Aiken evokes the wistful, dolorous tone of Snicket’s second mystery in his All the Wrong Questions series, he fails to deliver Snicket’s signature snark with appropriate vigor. In this episode, the main character, 12-year-old Lemony Snicket, continues the investigations that began in STAIN’D BY THE SEA with the case of the missing chemist, Cleo Knight. As Aiken delivers Snicket’s declarative sentences in a deadpan voice, his remote reading keeps listeners distant from the story. Furthermore, Aiken does not always play up the quirks of the town’s eccentric characters. When he does use individualized voicings, the story shakes off its languidness to some degree. Aiken’s melancholy narration echoes Snicket’s loneliness but doesn’t enliven the recording for young listeners. An attached PDF file includes the character Seth’s illustrations.
(Mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
Duration: 4 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781478924845
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Jeff Harding voices the many impactful moments of 1919 in this engaging nonfiction audiobook. From women activists fighting for the right to vote to the Red Scare and civil rights riots, Sandler draws parallels to today's social issues. Harding matches 1919's cadence with a forward-moving pace. He uses different accents for quotations, though the women and people of color might have been better served with a diverse cast. The asides and timelines that appear in the text also are in the audio. Full of fascinating stories put into a modern context, this audiobook offers much to learn about an eventful year and ponders the big questions of our current time.
(Nonfiction. 11-16)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2020
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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