When Siena and her family move from Brooklyn to the Maine shore, she and her little brother, Lucca, find that their house has ghostly traces of the family that used to live there. Ariadne Meyers portrays Siena in a pragmatic tone. While she has a youthful pitch and rhythm to her voice, Meyers depicts her in a way that makes her sound fairly unflappable, whether she's dealing with ghostly visits or the need to make new friends in a new town. Meyers also transitions smoothly from the contemporary Siena to the more childish voice of Sarah, the girl who used to live in Siena's house, as well as the shell-shocked, deeper voice of Joshua, who invades Siena's dreams. When listeners finally hear the voice of Lucca, his childlike pitch and pronunciation, so different from Siena's careful words, are well worth the wait.
(Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: 2013
Duration: 5 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9780804126861
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Complete with creative production touches, the result is a dark, satisfying listen.
Listeners don't just experience a fascinating historical drama--they also become steeped in a bloody gothic Western. Stellar performances are the center of this compelling listening experience. Narrator Marin Ireland fully embodies the beleaguered humanities professor who, while deep diving into the campus archive, discovers the story of her ancestors. At the same time, she is struggling with her tenure committee. In a deft transition back to 1912, Owen Teale's performance of a Lutheran pastor exhibits gravitas as he slowly unwinds the secrets of his relationship with Good Stab, a Blackfeet Indian who mysteriously appears in his congregation. Shane Ghostkeeper provides Good Stab with a subtle yet ferocious performance as the two face each other's buried truths.
Complete with creative production touches, the result is a dark, satisfying listen.Pub Date: N/A
Duration: N/A
DD ISBN: 9789876543210
Publisher: Vicky Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2026
Live Oak Media recently caught our attention with this new read-along book and cassette program. We listened first, and were so delighted we couldn't wait to get the book. The picture book made the experience even better, but the audio recordings was strong and vibrant by itself. THE GARDENER, Sarah Stewart's Depression-era story of a young girl sent to live with her Uncle Jim in the city has a sweet, wistful quality with narration alone, but coupled with David Small's soft-edged pencil illustration, it's a total delight. The reading is repeated on both sides of the tape, one with and without page-turning signals.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Live Oak Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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