While it might have been fascinating to hear Fleischman himself narrate this meandering autobiography, the deep-voiced Nelson Runger is both believable and charming as the Newbery-winning author (The Whipping Boy) who never intended to write a children's book, much less earn his fame as a writer in the genre. Pacing is the key to the wry humor of this reading. Runger makes liberal use of pauses and a modulating tone that often rises at the end of a line or when delivering a rare snippet of information. Largely unvoiced, the reading does make occasional room for the thick accents of Fleischman's Jewish parents. Though intended for older children and young adults, this recording will be a pleasure for adult listeners as well.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 1997
Duration: 4 hrs, 45 mins
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Riveting. Young adult listeners will learn a lot from Swanson’s overview of John F. Kennedy’s early years, election, and administration—as well as from his minute-by-minute account of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas in November 1963. Will Patton is purposeful and precise as he narrates. With the you-are-there style, listeners ride in Kennedy’s limousine, look down from the Texas School Book Depository, move through the halls of the Dallas police station, fly with the shocked and grief-stricken entourage in Air Force One, and walk with the funeral cortege. With brisk and urgent pacing, Patton voices each factual nugget and lets it hang momentarily before pressing on to the next. Other features include audio excerpts from Kennedy’s inaugural speech and a list of landmarks listeners may want to visit.
Young AdultPub Date: Sept. 24, 2013
Duration: 4 hrs
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Baraka Rahmani brings emotional sensitivity to her narration of the memoir of Badeeah Ahmed, an 18-year-old Yazidi woman who was kidnapped and held in captivity by Isis forces in Iraq. Rahmani is gifted at delivering context. In matter-of-fact tones she weaves information about Badeeah's family, her small town of Kocho, and the Yazidi people, a Northern Iraqi sect with a unique and powerful spirituality. This spirituality, her mother's love, and protecting her nephew, whom she nurtured as her son, sustains her in captivity. While the story is in no way gratuitous in its details, Rahmani's emotive narration reveals the horrific torture Badeeah faces as a sex slave, along with her courage in escaping and healing from the trauma she experienced. A poignant, gripping listen.
(Nonfiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2021
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781773057385
Publisher: ECW Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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