Audies 2016 Tonight

The Audies Gala is tonight in Chicago!

The Audies are awards given by the Audio Publishers Association, or the APA. The winners will be announced this evening from the short lists that were announced in February. I am looking forward to hearing the winners!

I have spent the last couple months listening to books from the Middle Grade and Young Listeners short list. I volunteered to be a part of Armchair Audies where audiobook lovers listen and try to predict the winner. I listened to most of the audiobooks in each category. There was one audiobook in each category that the libraries around me did not own, so I'll just have to wait and see if they sweep the awards! I bolded the titles I think could win and italicized the titles I did not hear.

Young Listeners Audies 2016 Finalists

• Appleblossom the Possum by Holly Goldberg Sloan, read by Dustin Hoffman
• Brother Hugo and the Bear by Katy Beebe, read by Gildart Jackson
• Dory Fantasmagory by Abby Hanlon, read by Suzy Jackson
• Eloise Audio Collection by Kay Thompson, read by Bernadette Peters
• The Little Shop of Monsters by R.L. Stine, Marc Brown, read by Jack Black
• Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales, read by Adriana Sananes

Middle Grade Audies 2016 Finalists

• Diary of a Mad Brownie by Bruce Coville, read by Euan Morton, Nancy O’Connor, Amanda Carlin, Scott Sherratt, Amanda D’Acierno, Jennifer Rubins, Joe Scalora, Dan Zitt, Tavia Gilbert, Matt Hostetler, and Karen Dziekonski
• Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan, read by Mark Bramhall, David de Vries, MacLeod Andrews, and Rebecca Soler
• Jump Back, Paul by Sally Derby, read by Bahni Turpin and Dion Graham
• Stellla by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper, read by Heather Alicia Simms
• The Unmapped Sea by Maryrose Wood, Read by Katherine Kellgren

I hope to tweet along with the Audies this evening as well as watch the live steam! Best wishes everyone!

AudiobookSYNC 2016

Welcome back, AudiobookSYNC!

Another Summer season of AudiobookSYNC is here! I am so excited and thankful for this audiobook partnership. Beginning May 5, two audiobooks are available to download each week until August 17. There are a total of 30 audiobooks from over 15 different audiobook publishers. AudiobookSYNC is sponsored by AudioFile Magazine and titles are delivered through the OverDrive app. You can choose to download all of the books, none of the books, or a random mix of books. The choice is yours!

Each week features two titles that are based on a theme for the week. The books are geared for teens ages 13+. Again, you might want all the titles, none of the titles, or some of the titles. You choose what to hear this summer!

I hope you'll join in the fun and share the good news of audiobooks!

Review: The Gold Medal Mess

Author David A. Kelly has a new mystery series for young readers who are ready for chapter books! His first series, Ballpark Mysteries, focuses on mysteries located at different American ballparks (Fenway, Wrigley, etc.) His new series is MVP or Most Valuable Players. Book one is The Gold Medal Mess. Here is a brief write up from Kelly's blog:

I know of the Ballpark Mysteries, but I never read any of the books in the series. They are a popular series for young readers who enjoy sports and mysteries. I think the same readers will enjoy this new series. Kelly kicked off with a great theme of Olympics in the year of Summer Olympics in Rio. Well played, sir! The mystery could be followed and solved by the reader, so it shouldn't frustrate young readers. It's also a mystery that is solved by a group of friends (or teammates) rather than a couple of friends or an individual.

Tonya Cornelisse narrates The Gold Medal Mess. Cornelisse is a new narrator for these ears. She has a husky voice which works well with female and male characters. She also needs to shares the voices of elementary students, middle graders, and adults. The voices sounded believable. You can hear a sample of The Gold Medal Mess on Listening Library's website. You can also see the next MVP book that will be narrated by Cornelisse.

I received this audiobook from Penguin Random House for an honest review. Thank you, Listening Library!

Audio Book Details...
The Gold Medal Mess by David A. Kelly
Series: 01, MVP (Most Valuable Players)
Read by Tonya Cornelisse
Produced by Listening Library
Number of Discs: 1
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Release Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 9780399569227 / 9780553513219

A to Z Challenge is Done

The A to Z Challenge is done and it did me in. I still need to complete some of the last letters of the alphabet... April was a busy month for me and adding a blog challenge was exciting, but a little stressful. I was "live" posting rather than schedule posting. Lesson learned for next time! I hope everyone who participated in #AtoZChallenge had a good time! It was a new experience that I hope to do again.

Shout out to fellow children's librarian, Katie at Story Time Secrets, who blogged about picture book biographies during the month of April.