This children's story is set in Compestine's hometown of Wuhan at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nancy Wu masterfully narrates the experience of 13-year-old Mei as the young teen grieves the loss of her late mother and misses her father, who works virtually nonstop at the hospital, helping patients with a mysterious disease. Wu captures the anger born from fear that Mei's father feels when Mei naïvely visits him at work to ask for medicine for her friend's sick grandmother and then quickly shifts to remorse as he hands her a mask and sends her home. Wu maintains an eerily composed calm as Wuhan is shut down, leaving Mei alone to play computer games and cook food for neighbors. Chapter titles are read in Chinese and English. Listeners will reflect on their own Covid experiences while enjoying Mei's story.
(Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
Duration: 3 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9780358669340
Publisher: Harper 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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