June is Audiobook Month 2023

 Hello, Juuuuuune! 🌞

It's time to celebrate audiobooks! 🥳

A couple cool audiobook facts from American Libraries Magazine

1975 - Books on Tape was founded by Duvall Hecht, an Olympic gold medalist in rowing and a former Marine Corps pilot. Hecht was a pioneer in harnessing the then-new technology of cassette tapes to create audiobooks!

1998 - Audio Publishers Association established June as Audiobook Appreciation Month

This is the 25th year to celebrate JUNE is AUDIOBOOK MONTH! 🎉

Review: Art Matters

I checked out Art Matters by Neil Gaiman, because I do believe art matters. I also wanted to hear what Gaiman wanted to say about it. I was thrilled to see that he, again, narrated his own works. I really enjoy listening to his voice.

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Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change the World is an excellent collection of articles on the importance, beauty, strength, and wonder of art. As I said, previously, I checked out the audiobook because I like listening to the author. I also checked out the book because I love Chris Riddell's art. I would highly recommend this book as well as the audiobook. I found myself wanting to highlight several passages and cheer aloud with the audiobook. The sketches AND the text throughout the book is written and drawn out beautifully. I'll wait for my own copy to mark up because I had a library edition. Gotta respect the property of others, my friends.

Reviewed from a library copy.

Audio Book Details...

Art Matters Because Your Imagination Can Change the World by Neil Gaiman

Read by Neil Gaiman

Produced by Recorded Books, LLC

Number of Discs: 1

Total Time: 49 minutes

Release Date: November 2018

ISBN: 9781982595241

Review: The Long-Lost Home

The final installment in Maryrose Wood's series, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, is The Long-Lost Home. It was published in June of 2018, but it was one of the longest books (for me) to finish. I had grown rather attached to Miss Lumley, the Incorrigibles, Simon, and the whole cast of characters in the world Maryrose Wood and Katherine Kellgren built together through the years. I could not wait to hear the end of the tale, but I didn't want it to end either.

If you don't keep tabs on audiobook news, you might not know that the publishers didn't change narrators on a whim for book six. The amazing Katherine Kellgren passed away in January of 2018. Fiona Hardingham stepped in to take over the final book. Hardingham's version has been praised and the book is an Audies 2019 finalist this year!

For me, this is one of the few audiobooks I could not finish. I started listening at the end of summer and cried every time I tried to listen to The Long-Lost Home. I switched to the hardcover to keep my tears at bay and finished the book at the end of the year.

It's a great book and a fantastic series. This is a series I always love to share with anyone and everyone. I can't give a review of audiobook version because Hardingham is not Kellgren and I miss Ms. Kellgren so much. Perhaps I'll be able to pick up this audiobook in future, but for now, I'm grieving.

---

Enjoy this interview with Maryrose Wood from AudioFile.

Review: The Hundred Dresses

I selected The Hundred Dresses to read in December because of the Dressember movement. It is a classic title that I had yet to read. I figured since I am wearing dresses all month, why not read stories about dresses, too.

This quick tale has power.

Yes, it was originally written in 1944, but it is relevant today as it was back in the day. An outsider in the classroom gets teased and then the family moves away. One classmate takes this to heart and decides to make a different. They won't stand on the sidelines again.

The Hundred Dresses is a perfect read for Dressember. Dressember is about taking a stand and helping others. It's about supporting artists that lift others up. It's a movement to end bullying, to end human trafficking, to end slavery.

It is some times the smallest tales that have the greatest impact.

I hope you've had a chance to read this story. If you haven't yet, I would highly recommend enjoying it this season.

Christina Moore narrates The Hundred Dresses. I previously heard her narrated Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr a few years ago. Her style reminds of an elementary teacher reading a book to her class.

Reviewed from a library copy.

Audio Book Details...
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
Read by Christina Moore
Produced by Recorded Books, LLC
Number of Discs: 1
Total Time: 54 minutes
Release Date: 1998
ISBN: 0788795198

A Good Audiobook Speaks Volumes Holiday Blog Tour & Giveaway

Welcome to Day 1 of A Good Audiobook Speaks Volumes Holiday Blog Tour & Giveaway!

I am thrilled to kick-off this audiobook tour! There are stops each day of the month in November to celebrate audiobooks. Be sure to stop by Audio Publishers Association website to see the complete schedule of blogs to visit. Each blogger will have great books to share - current and to-be-heard audiobooks, holiday listening, gift ideas, and books to travel with this season. Besides book recommendations, you'll also have opportunities to win audiobooks generously donated by Beacon Press, High Bridge Audio, LA Theatre Words, Macmillan Audio, Penguin Random House Audio, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster Audio, and Tantor Audio.

If you're still in the mood for a goulish read, I suggest Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. It's a book I have enjoyed hearing several times and there are two versions available. The original recording is read by the author Neil Gaiman and the second recording is with a full cast. Both recordings are excellent!

If you're in the mood for a giving tale, I suggest listening to Ship of Dolls by Shirley Parenteau, read by Kate Reinders. It's historical fiction set in the 1920's when dolls were exchanged between America and Japan in a friendship exchange.

If you're looking for a new audiobook this season, perhaps you'd like The Good Neighbor, The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King, narrated by LeVar Burton. This is next up on my to-be-heard shelf as it just came in at my local library!

This is just a short list of titles from this audiobook listener. Let me know what you're looking forward to listening to as 2018 wraps up. If you're looking for additional family or youth audiobook suggestions, let me know and I'll give you some more audiobook options!

Leave a comment on this blog post and include an email address to be entered to win 8 audiobooks. A winner will be randomly selected on November 15th. The codes have been provided by the Audio Publisher's Association and Libro.fm  Entrants are restricted to US addresses only, please. One entry per person, please.

1. BRIDGE OF CLAY by Markus Zusak (Penguin Random House Audio)
2. SPILL by Leigh Fondakowski (LA Theatre Works)
3. HOW TO BE LESS STUPID ABOUT RACE by Crystal Fleming (Beacon Press)
4. AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones (HighBridge Audio)
5. SALVATION by Peter F. Hamilton (Tantor Audio)
6. THE HUNGER GAMES: Special Edition by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
7. HEAVY by Kiese Laymon Simon Audio (Simon Audio) 
8. NINE PERFECT STRANGERS by Liane Moriarty (Macmillan Audio)

#LoveAudiobooks #FamilyListens #TravelWithAudiobooks

Re-Listen: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

The newest (and final) installment of Maryrose Wood's series The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place has been released! My library copy arrived on the shelf and in the joy of seeing it, I enthusiastically checked out the entire series. I want to savor this series all over again before jumping into the end.

My original review of Book 01, The Mysterious Howling is on my blog. In my current re-listen, I loved hearing the children again and their wolfish accents. I have a special place in my heart for the littlest Incorrigible, Cassiopeia. A highlight in the story is at the end when she raises her fists in the air and shouts, "Mayhem!"  If I could have a poster of this moment, I would hang if up in my office.

Here is a fun review from The Sleepless Reader.

Book 02, The Hidden Gallery takes the Incorrigibles and Penelope (as well as the Ashtons) to London! The mysterious happenings in book one continue in book two, but with additional characters put in the mix. The little mysteries throughout the story (or should I say stories), continue to captivate. It seems that as soon as one mystery could be solved another crops up! I'm looking forward to hearing about the new characters of Simon and the Gypsy fortune-teller. I also enjoyed the silliness of a pirate play in the book.

Review: Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book

Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly was a GoodReads Choice Award Nominee for Middle Grade & Children's in 2017. That was very intriguing to me. I was also interested to see if the story would follow the Disney version of Beauty and Beast. I can share that the main characters are the same, but the story is uniquely written. If you're a fan of fantasy, Disney, or fairy tales, I think you'll enjoy this story.

Here is the book description from Disney:

"Smart, bookish Belle, a captive in the Beast’s castle, has become accustomed to her new home and has befriended its inhabitants. When she comes upon Nevermore, an enchanted book unlike anything else she has seen in the castle, Belle finds herself pulled into its pages and transported to a world of glamour and intrigue. The adventures Belle has always imagined, the dreams she was forced to give up when she became a prisoner, seem within reach again.

The charming and mysterious characters Belle meets within the pages of Nevermore offer her glamorous conversation, a life of dazzling Parisian luxury, and even a reunion she never thought possible. Here Belle can have everything she ever wished for. But what about her friends in the Beast’s castle? Can Belle trust her new companions inside the pages of Nevermore? Is Nevermore’s world even real? Belle must uncover the truth about the book, before she loses herself in it forever."

The audiobook narrator for Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book is Jenna Augen. This is the second Beauty and the Beast book she has narrated, but the first one I have heard her narrate. It was a very enjoyable voice to hear. Her natural British accent added the perfect charm to this fairy tale story. There was a mix of male and female voices throughout the story as well as a variety of ages. I thought Augen did a great job. I was able to hear the differences between characters and her male voices were well done. I would listen to her read again.

Reviewed from a Blackstone Audio copy. Thank you, Audiobook Jukebox!
I received this audiobook for free and wrote an honest review.

Audio Book Details...
Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly
Read by Jenna Augen
Produced by Disney / Blackstone Audio
Number of Discs: MP3 download (69 parts)
Total Time: 7 hours, 19 minutes
Release Date: March 2017
ISBN: 9781538468739

June is Audiobook Month Blog Tour

Welcome to Day 8 of June is Audiobook Month Blog Tour! Thanks for visiting Adolescent Audio Adventures. As a children's librarian, I love to hear stories for families and children. Audiobooks give me an opportunity to read more books as I travel, workout, and complete chores during the year. Whether it's a quick ten minutes or a lengthy six hour trip, there's a story (or part of a story) to enjoy!

Planning a family road trip this summer?
Here are a few mystery suggestions for your travels this summer:

The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency series by Jordan Stratford
Book 1, The Case of the Missing Moonstone
Book 2, The Case of the Girl in Grey
Book 3, The Case of the Counterfeit Criminals
Read by Nicola Barber
Produced by HighBridge Audio
Quick review: Hilarious historical fiction with a mystery



The Brixton Brothers series by Mac Barnett
Book 1, The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity
Book 2, The Ghostwriter Secret
Book 3, It Happened on a Train
Read by Arte Johnson
Produced by Listening Library
Quick review: Hilarious series with a flavor of an old school mystery



Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School series by Andrew Clements
Book 1, We the Children
Book 2, Fear Itself
Book 3, The Whites of Their Eyes
Book 4,  In Harm's Way
Book 5, We Hold These Truths
Read by Kevin Nobbs
Produced by Simon & Schuster Audio
Quick review: Modern school mystery series about a group of students trying to save their historic school.

Thank for stopping by Adolescent Audio Adventures! Huge thanks to Audio Publishers Association for putting this blog tour together for June is Audiobook Month. They also shared with me a fun giveaway! A collection of 8 audiobooks that have been generously donated by Blackstone Publishing, High Bridge Audio, Hachette Audio, LA Theatre Works, Macmillan Audio, Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks, Scholastic, and Tantor Audio. One winner will be chosen from the comments on this post. (Limited to the USA only.) The books will be available on Audiobooks.com.


What are you listening to OR hope to listen to this summer?

Comment for a chance to win. No purchase is necessary. The giveaway is open until Saturday, June 30 at 8am (CT). One winner will be chosen. The codes have been provided by the Audio Publisher’s Association and Audiobooks.com. Entrants are restricted to USA only, please. One entry per person, please.

1. Seven by Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith, and Susan Yankowitz
2. Gone to Dust by Matt Goldman, narrated by MacLeod Andrews
3. Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris, narrated by Kevin Hely and Cathleen McCarron
4. Wings of Fire Book One: The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland, narrated by Shannon MacManus
5. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan, narrated by Todd McLaren
6. Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan, narrated by David Shih
7. A Girl Stands at the Door by Rachel Devlin, narrated by Robin Miles
8. Torn from Troy, Book 1 in the Odyssey of a Slave Trilogy by Patrick Bowman, narrated by Gerard Doyle

#LoveAudiobooks #TravelWithAudiobooks #FamilyListens #Mysteries

June is Audiobook Month 2018

Welcome to June 2018! Welcome to Audiobook Month!

I look forward to the month of June every year. I get to celebrate audiobooks for an entire month! I also connect with readers, publishers, and organizations who are passionate about audiobooks. It's a great kick-off to Summer.

How can you celebrate Audiobook Month?

1. Visit your local library and check out an audiobook
2. Visit a digital library, like Hoopla or Overdrive, and check out an audiobook
3. Visit the June is Audiobook Month blog tour and giveaway put together by Audio Publishers Association
4. Visit AudiobookSYNC and enjoy some free audiobooks
5. Join the fun this month by blogging, tweeting, or instagramming about audiobooks or interacting with audiobook enthusiasts. Some hashtags to keep in mind are #JuneIsAudiobookMonth, #JIAM, #AudiobookMonth, or #LoveAudiobooks.

I am looking forward to talking audiobooks with you this month!

Review: Trolled

Trolled by Bruce Coville is the third installment in the series, The Enchanted Files. The first books is Cursed (or Diary of a Mad Brownie) and book two is Hatched.

Ned is a troll living and working in New York City. Cody is a sixth-grader living in New York City. How did they meet? Ned and Cody's father work at Grand Central Terminal (otherwise known as Grand Central Station). Their worlds collide with family history and enchantments.

Listen to a sample on the Listening Library website!

If you enjoyed the first two titles, you will be sure to enjoy this third installment of The Enchanted Files. I appreciated the links between the characters in book one, Cursed, and book three, Trolled. The story was engaging because it was a diary or log setup with interesting side stories or documents. The variety of voices helps the listener understand all the different parts of the books - journaling, stories, documents, reports, etc. One "setback" to this audiobook would be there are no illustrations, but they are not a highlight in the story. I personally didn't care for characters saying, "OMG" in the story or the talk of farts. I'm sure it won't bother other readers or listeners.

The full cast audio is a great way to tell a story with multiple voices. I applaud all the readers because they had to have their character voice, but also characterize the other characters they interacted with during their part of the story. I could distinguish the characters and they were enjoyable to hear. I wish that all the readers were listed on the audiobook cover, but alas they are not. I couldn't find a complete list on the Listening Library website either. One strange sound effect during the story was during texts between characters. Their was a keyboard typing noise with a zoom noise at the end. The zoom noise was find, but the keyboard typing was very out of place. It brought to mind AOL Instant Messanger messaging rather than phone messaging.

Reviewed from a library copy.

Audio Book Details...
Trolled by Bruce Coville
Series: Book 03, The Enchanted Files
Read by Barbara Rosenblat, Kivlighan de Monebello, and a full cast
Produced by Listening Library
Number of Discs: 5
Total Time: 5 Hours, 21 Minutes
Release Date: September 2017
ISBN: 9781524782610