Although it's aimed at middle-grade listeners, this collection of important American speeches is enlightening for those of all ages. In the introductions, narrator Lisa Renee Pitts's spirited voice delivers the historical contexts and legacies of the speeches, unflinchingly detailing which Founding Fathers were slaveholders and explaining complicated politics. Pitts also delivers the three speeches by women with a fiery passion; Fannie Lou Hamer's speech is especially moving. The other 12 speeches are delivered in Prentice Onayemi's resonant, authoritative voice. His subtle accents authentically bring to life a diverse group of speakers, including Abraham Lincoln, Lou Gherig, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez. An accompanying pdf provides a color-coded timeline of America, beginning with the Revolution and dotted with thumbnail portraits of the orators.
(Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
Duration: 3 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780062969088
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ken Coleman's expertise as a baseball announcer enriches this history of the Boston Red Sox since the sale of Babe Ruth to the N.Y. Yankees. He leads off with a grim account of this transaction, which started the curse that has plagued the Red Sox ever since. The sermon-like tone will amuse non-believers and comfort listeners who are certain the team is cursed. Like the ups and downs of Boston's play through the years, the narrator's voice fluctuates--exuberant and then despondent--in tone and tempo accurately reflecting the mood of any given baseball season. The narrator is very successful at conveying the emotional roller coaster ride Red Sox fans have endured as a result of the curse of the Bambino.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A perfect portrayal.
Nickel reads her imaginative picture-book biography of Hans Christian Andersen in a fairy-tale tone. She weaves the facts of the famous storyteller’s life together with a sense of whimsy, stressing rhythms and repetitions that captivate. It’s as if she embodies the storytelling spirit of the poor shoemaker’s son who possessed a nose “two times as long” and a heart “two times as tender” as everyone else around him. Nickel’s narration and writing are as inventive as Andersen, who, when rejected by theaters, dance studios, and choirs, created cut-paper characters while he told children his tales. The man who saw himself as an ugly duckling is finally admired as “the most beautiful swan of all.”
A perfect portrayal. (Picture-book biography. 5-7)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
Duration: 6 mins
DD ISBN: 9798898851132
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: yesterday
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