Dion Graham makes every audiobook he narrates into a special event, and his charisma just overflows in this one about Ant, a 10-year-old boy from South Carolina. Ant is obsessed with winning his community’s annual spades tournament—and living up to the expectations of his gambling, alcoholic father. When Ant’s best friend and spades partner is grounded, Ant finds an unexpected partner, Shirley, the new girl at school, who is distractingly pretty and plays a mean game of spades. Graham imbues each character with personality—from Ant’s quiet, thoughtful charm and his father’s larger-than-life presence to Shirley’s snooty self-confidence. But the standout is Graham’s vivid portrayal of the omniscient narrator who is watching Ant’s struggles and contextualizing them within his Black community.
(Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: 2021
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781338780949
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 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:
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Live Oak Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Cousins Avery and Jax don't have much in common, including their feelings about a summer at their family's crumbling island vacation home. She thinks it's a great adventure, and he'd rather be anywhere else. Narrator Kate Coventry embodies Avery's open, exuberant, and sometimes thoughtless behavior, while Pete Cross makes clear to listeners how much quiet Jax is impacted by his father's overbearing nature. As they help clean the place up to sell it, they find pages torn from a diary that may uncover what drove their parents away from the island and each other years before. Cassandra Morris's brief narration of the mysterious diarist is compelling in its simplicity. Narrators Kate Coventry and Pete Cross provide vivacity to this exploration of family history and regrets.
(Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: 2025
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798225027049
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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