Eric Yang's spirited performance and ease in creating multiple characters make this audiobook a joy to listen to. Californian Rick Kotani, who loves baseball, expected to spend the summer pitching for his team. Instead, he winds up in Oregon, with his mom, who's looking after his Japanese grandfather, who still has spunk but isn't safe living independently. As Rick's Grandpa Hiroshi introduces him to a Japanese folktale that mirrors his life as a young man, Yang adopts an accent that perfectly fits an immigrant who has spent decades in America. Rick's growing interest in Toni, an excellent ballplayer and umpire who is continually being sidelined in favor of her twin brother, sounds both charming and squirmy. The minor characters are excellent, too--the overenthusiastic administrator at a dreary nursing home is particularly entertaining.
(Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2025
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780063230842
Publisher: Harper Audio
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: N/A
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Live Oak Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Naeymi’s narration is both raw and triumphant.
Samara Naeymi beautifully narrates this middle-grade novel about an Iranian American girl. Bullied by her classmates for her frizzy hair and thick eyebrows and criticized by her mother for her weight, Yasmin struggles to be her authentic self in a world that tells her she's not good enough. There are many different perspectives in this story, and Naeymi is true to each: Yasmin’s judgmental mother, with her Persian accent and steely belief in her own harsh parenting; the ruthless teenagers whose hurtful comments cause emotional harm; the younger brother concerned for his sister's unhappiness; and the tried-and-true best friend.
Naeymi’s narration is both raw and triumphant. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 24, 2026
Duration: 4 hrs, 51 mins
DD ISBN: 9798349114861
Publisher: Dreamscape
Review Posted Online: yesterday
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