Follow Follow by Marilyn Singer/ill. Josée Masse, read
by Singer and Joe Morton
A
compilation of reverso poems featuring characters from the fairy tale
kindom. Clever verses are read once,
then repeated in reverse order, often by an opposing character. What do the Hare and the Tortoise think of
their chances in the race? Aladdin and
his genie both wish for freedom from their masters. King Midas’s view of himself is “mirrored” by
a child onloooker. A highly successful
example of pairing a book with a read-along CD, as the printed poems let us see just where the re”vers”als occur. Josée Masse’s illustrations of bold brightly
colored characters energentically illustrate the dual verses.
Rabbit Ears Storybook Classics are short tales read by noted actors
and enhanced with original background music and musical characterization, also
composed by famous musicians. Story
segments are typically 20+ minutes each. Hear Robin Williams as Pecos Bill, Cher as the Ugly
Duckling, Jack Nicholson reading Rudyard
Kipling’s Just So stories. The wide
selection includes fairy tales, folk tales from around the world, American tall
tales, and Bible stories.
Crossover by Kwame Alexander, narrated by Corey
Allen. The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winner from
2015, this novel in verse describes twin hot shot basketball brothers. Their dad was a former pro player, their mom
is assistant principal at school – no pressure there! Told in alternating voices, Alexander
captures the exhilaration and feeling of
playing basketball and the brothers’ bewilderment at the changes they
experience in adolescence. Sibling
rivalry, concern over their father’s health, all come pouring out in fluid
phrases as sweet as their moves on the
court. The book translates great as an
audio production, with the poetic form
still in evidence. As we hear from the
book’s primary voice, Dirty McNasty, Muhammed Ali isn’t the only sports figure
who can spout poetry.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, performed by a full cast including the author
(as the Poet Nehemiah Trot) and Derek Jacobi. This new recording of the
multiple award winning fantasy has been nominated as Audio Book of the Year 2015 by
the Audio Publishers Association. (The originial recorded version, narrated soley by Gaiman, also won an Audie.) The evil spirit,
Sleer is truly creepily voiced, reminiscent of Harry Potter’s Dementors. Appropriately, each chapter begins with music adapted from Le Danse Macabre. As the primary narrator, Jacobi imbues his
narration with an ominous tone.
How to Catch a Bogle by Catherine Jinks, narrated by Mandy Williams. Nominated for an Audie award as best
children’s book, ages 8-12. In a magical Victorian England, we follow
the adventures of Birdie, an orphan who works for Alfred the Bogle Catcher. She
acts as the bait to entice the wispy, sooty, creatures out of the chimney or other
hiding places. While the text might be
difficult to read as written phonetically, narrator Williams lucidly displays
a variety of British accents in portraying the young, poor, rich of London,
even prettily singing the songs Birdie sings to trap the bogles.
Countdown & Revolution Books 1 & 2 of the Sixties Trilogy by Deborah Wiles.
Wiles and her narrators bring the 1960s, with all its turmoil, to life
in books focusing on the Cuban Missile
Crisis and the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. The threat of nuclear war
looms just beyond the horizon. The print versions are interspersed with photos,
print ads, speech transcripts by famous figures from the time. While we miss the photos in the audio
version, the text is transcribed as actual news reports, TV and radio ads, and
passable imitations of JFK, Khrushchev, LBJ and Martin Luther King. Tying this social history together is the
story of a child living through these time.
Read or listen to these books with your child or grandchild. Wiles has done an incredibly thorough job
recreating a decade that still reverberates.
Blue Lily Lily Blue (Raven Boys
Cycle, #3) by Maggie
Stiefvater, narrated by Will Patton. Teen and adult fans who have been listening to
the Raven Boys Cycle are in for a treat at the end of this installment. Original music has been written and recorded
for the verse at the beginning of the book: Queens and kings, Kings and queens
… . It plays at the end of the
story.
