Book Reviews
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman; read by the author Intermediate, Middle School Listening Library Rev. 1/19 4 CDs 4.55 hrs. 978-1-9848-4509-2 $38.00 Venkatraman’s memorable middle-grade and middle-school novel follows homeless children trying to survive on the streets of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, India. In this excellent audio...
Fresh Inkedited by Lamar Giles; read by various artistsMiddle School Listening Library Rev. 9/184 CDs 5.08 hrs. 978-0-525-59565-6 $38.00Giles opens this anthology of twelve short works with a foreword containing this message: “I hope you find [a hero] who looks like you, or thinks like you, or feels like you....
The Mad Wolf’s Daughterby Diane Magras; read by Joshua ManningIntermediate, Middle School Listening Library Rev. 7/186 CDs 6.62 hrs. 978-0-525-53134-0 $50.00Drest is determined to free her captured older brothers and father from Faintree Castle, where they soon will be hanged, and she means to use the young knight she rescued...
Before the Devil Breaks You: A Diviners Novelby Libba Bray; read by January LaVoyHigh School Listening Library Rev. 3/1817 CDs 21.35 hrs. 978-0-449-80883-2 $70.00LaVoy reprises her excellent narration for this third volume in the series starring a diverse group of teens with extrasensory abilities in 1920s New York City. Here...
Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918by Albert Marrin; read by Jim FrangioneMiddle School, High School Listening Library Rev. 3/185 CDs 5.75 hrs. 978-1-525-52609-4 $45.00Marrin’s account of the flu pandemic that killed millions of people during World War I, plus modern-day efforts to identify that strain and prevent...
Moxieby Jennifer Mathieu; read by Suzy JacksonHigh School Recorded Books Rev. 11/178 CDs 8.75 hrs. 978-1-5019-6805-1 $87.75Vivian Carter, frustrated with the systemic sexism of her small-town Texas high school, secretly distributes a zine proclaiming, “Moxie girls fight back!” Though she’s shy in real life, Viv draws...
Checkedby Cynthia Kadohata; read by John KroftIntermediate, Middle School Recorded Books Rev. 5/187 CDs 7.75 hrs. 978-1-5019-8278-1 $20.99Conor MacRae’s life is consumed with elite hockey. Nothing can overtake his obsession — not his growing concerns about his elderly neighbor Mr. Reynolds, not the strained...
The Night Diaryby Veera Hiranandani; read by Priya AyyarIntermediate, Middle School Listening Library Rev. 7/185 CDs 5.92 hrs. 978-0-525-53044-2 $45.00Twelve-year-old Nisha, whose mother was Muslim and father is Hindu, begins writing a diary in the form of letters to her mother, who died when Nisha and her twin Amil were...
Chasing King’s Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Assassinby James L. Swanson; read by Kim StauntonMiddle School, High School Scholastic Audio5 CDs 5.67 hrs. 978-1-338-22724-6 $29.99With intensity and clarity, Swanson documents the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and James Earl Ray — King’s assassin — and...
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