Narrator Lisa Renée Pitts brings a sincere, ingenuous quality to Valena, the heroine of Newbery-winning author Virginia Hamilton’s last novel. Eleven-year-old Valena, soon to be in sixth grade, finds that life is still full of phenomena that are difficult to understand--ghosts in the dark, the Aurora Borealis, a tornado, and the cruelty of racism. Valena’s mother tells her stories of their family’s past, which help Valena understand her own life and find her strength. Pitts handles each of Valena’s confused moments with a fine blend of childish spite and little-girl uncertainty. She does especially well detailing the family’s history, from the capture of Tunny Maud, a Pygmy woman taken to America in slavery, to the escape of Valena’s great-grandfather on the Underground Railroad.
Ages 10+Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2005
Duration: 4 hrs
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Liam Aiken narrates this prequel to the Series of Unfortunate Events in a somber, deadpan tone that heightens its dark humor. As a teenaged Lemony Snicket investigates a series of arsons in a town called Stain’d-by-the-Sea, Aiken creates voices that delineate character and help keep clear the large cast of Snicket’s associates, enemies, and enemies that turn out to be associates. Aiken’s tone of quiet urgency will keep listeners hooked through wordplay, mysteries, good meals, romance, and the appearance of a new villain named Hangfire, who hoodwinks adults, frames a librarian, and kidnaps all the children in town. This smart and funny listen will please Snicket fans and create new ones.
(Mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781478955733
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
While narrator Liam Aiken evokes the wistful, dolorous tone of Snicket’s second mystery in his All the Wrong Questions series, he fails to deliver Snicket’s signature snark with appropriate vigor. In this episode, the main character, 12-year-old Lemony Snicket, continues the investigations that began in STAIN’D BY THE SEA with the case of the missing chemist, Cleo Knight. As Aiken delivers Snicket’s declarative sentences in a deadpan voice, his remote reading keeps listeners distant from the story. Furthermore, Aiken does not always play up the quirks of the town’s eccentric characters. When he does use individualized voicings, the story shakes off its languidness to some degree. Aiken’s melancholy narration echoes Snicket’s loneliness but doesn’t enliven the recording for young listeners. An attached PDF file includes the character Seth’s illustrations.
(Mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
Duration: 4 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781478924845
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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