”Niño!” To a background of wild cheering and jaunty music, young wrestler Niño hears his name and enters an (imaginary) ring. Narrator Adriana Sananes is as animated as the crowd and as pumped up as Niño himself. Her voice speeds and slows, rises and falls with the thrill of each bout. One by one Niño takes on his opponents—from the Guanajuato Mummy to El Chamuco—and sometimes outwits them with a “tickle tackle” or distracts them with a puzzle to solve. When the three o’clock alarm sounds in the recording, it’s time for Niño’s little sisters—LAS HERMINITAS—to awaken from their nap. And they’re Niño’s biggest challenge of all! The production concludes with notes about the Mexican form of wrestling known as LUCHA LIBRE.
(Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 7, 2015
Duration: 6 mins
DD ISBN: 9781633798489
Publisher: Dreamscape
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: April 28, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
