Listening Library has a great young narrator in thirteen-year-old Christy Carlson Romano. She must be heard to be appreciated. The Cuckoo's Child is a roller-coaster story with myriad incidents and emotional highs and lows. Challenges include a United Nations of accents and diverse character types and ages, none of which daunt Romano. It is the 1960's, and young Mia must return from Beirut to Tennessee, when her parents are lost at sea. She has always longed for a traditional American lifestyle, but now she's not so sure she likes it. Romano perfectly portrays Mia's coming of age, effectively showing the girl's range of adolescent emotion. The narrator also gives the sense of talking to the listener as a friend. Freeman's novel is wonderful but the oral presentation makes it come to life.
Ages 10+Pub Date: Jan. 22, 1998
Duration: 6 hrs, 24 mins
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Narrator Susannah Jones's high-speed pacing conveys Maeve's jangly thoughts and obsession with every potential scary outcome of her life--complete with research that feeds her anxiety. Jones does an equally fine job portraying minor characters. Whether calm, compassionate, or frustrated, these secondary characters allow listeners a bit of relief from Maeve's intensity. Maeve does have reason for concern as she moves in with her father and his family for six months. Her situation is complicated: Her father struggles with alcoholism, her stepmother is determined to have a home birth, her mother is working far away in Haiti with a new lover, and Maeve has broken up with her girlfriend. Jones builds the tension and then relieves it as Maeve develops honesty, courage, and love for her new girlfriend.
(Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2017
Duration: 7 hrs
Publisher: Audible, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Vikas Adam and Soneela Nankani animate alternate chapters of the dynamic love story between Pinky and Samir in this companion to WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI. Coincidence unites the two teens when Samir's promised internship falls through and Pinky invites him to become her pretend summer boyfriend because he meets her mother's expectations. This fast-paced rom-com pairs two unlikely heroes, and the narrators capture the reversals and tensions of their growing relationship. Nankani shows Pinky's prickly side while also revealing her hidden vulnerabilities. Adam communicates Samir's loosening up in response to Pinky's passionate approach to living, his willingness to let go of anger, and, finally, his flourishing love for Pinky. Head and heart, tension and humor are reflected in this engaging listen.
(Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: July 21, 2020
Duration: 11 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781797108759
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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