spring/summer 2011 recent releases — young & middle grade

Young Adult CD Library
68
DAIRY QUEEN TRILOGY
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
read by Natalie Moore
“Highly, highly recommended for young
adults and adults.”—Bookpage
DAIRY QUEEN
After spending her summer running the
family farm and training the quarterback for
her school’s rival football team, 16-year-old
D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself.
“Natalie perfectly narrates…The characters
come alive with her subtly intimate narration,
voice changes, and use of accents.”
—School Library Journal
Capitol Choices: Audio Books Too Good to Miss
YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
5 CDs • 978-0-7393-3612-0 • $45.00
Grade: RL: 5.3 • IL: 7-12 • LL: 990 • 6 hrs. 9 mins.
THE OFF SEASON
D.J. is reconnecting with her best friend,
dating Brian Nelson, and starting for the High
School football team. But when something
tragic happens, life is thrown way off course.
“Moore’s spot-on midwestern accent plunks
listeners into the Wisconsin setting.”—Booklist
Capitol Choices: Audio Books Too Good to Miss
YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
5 CDs • 978-0-7393-5106-2 • $45.00
Grade: RL: 5.3 • IL: 7-12 • LL: 990 • 6 hrs.
FRONT AND CENTER
Everyone has big plans for D.J.—her coach,
college scouts, and the town’s hoops fans. A certain
Red Bend High School junior keen on
romance. Not to mention Brian Nelson, who
she is done with, but who keeps showing up
anyway.
“The trilogy comes to a satisfying close...her
self-deprecating and humorous voice is still as
fresh the third time around.”—Booklist
“Natalie Moore skillfully depicts teenage athlete
D.J. Schwenk…Moore uses the perfect
Wisconsin twang and teenage enthusiasm for
her performance of D.J…great fun.”
—AudioFile
5 CDs • 978-0-3075-8324-6 • $45.00
Grade: RL: 5.5 • IL: 7-12 • LL: 980 • 5 hrs. 55 mins.
CHASING THE BEAR
A Young Spenser Novel
by Robert B. Parker; read by Daniel Parker
Parker’s inimitable private investigator,
Spenser, has been solving cases for years. Now,
see Spenser’s formative years, spent with his
father and two uncles out West.
“Carefully tempered emotion, full-throttle suspense
and subtle humor.”—Publishers Weekly
“The narrator is Parker’s son Daniel, who nicely
pulls it off. His voice sounds as Spenser’s
might have in his middle teens, and his pacing
is professional. ...well done.”—AudioFile
2 CDs • 978-0-3075-8249-2 • $38.00
Grade: RL: 3.4 • IL: 7-12 • LL: 500 •2 hrs. 37 mins.
See page 66 for THE BOXER AND THE SPY
CHICKEN BOY
by Frances O’Roark Dowell
read by Stephen Hoye
With the help of a new friend, Tobin just
might survive seventh grade.
“Stephen Hoye does a fine job of drawing out
the nuances of the characters.”
—School Library Journal
“Hoye’s laconic storytelling style and North
Carolina drawl suit the rural setting and the
rustic sensibilities of this tale.”
—Capitol Choices
“Hoye reads this poignant, realistic novel with
a relaxed southern drawl. Hoye deftly conveys
the boy’s loneliness and growing appreciation
of his feathered charges.”—Booklist
Capitol Choices: Audio Books Too Good to Miss
4 CDs • 978-0-307-24620-2 • $38.00
Grade: RL: 5.1 • IL: 7-12 • LL: 860 • 3 hrs. 51 mins.
See page 59 and 62 for more titles by
Frances O’Roark Dowell
THE CHOCOLATE WAR
by Robert Cormier; read by Frank Muller
MARGARET A. EDWARDS AWARD
A high school student faces a showdown with
the school’s secret society when he refuses to be
bullied.
“Muller narrates the story with an intensity
that makes all the events feel like a matter of
life and death.”—AudioFile
★“Thirty years ago, Cormier wrote a powerful
tale of conformity, mob rule, and moral
weakness that has become a classic…This novel
[is] unique in its uncompromising portrait of
human cruelty and conformity.”
—School Library Journal, starred review
5 CDs • 978-1-4000-8996-3 • $45.00
Grade: RL: 6.7 • IL: 6-12 • LL: 820 • 5 hrs. 43 mins.
THE CLOUD CHAMBER
by Joyce Maynard; read by Joel Johnstone
A family tragedy has caused Nate to feel like
an outcast in his small town, and his only hope
for redemption lies in winning the science fair.
“Joel Johnstone’s narration makes listeners hear
and feel the pain, anguish, fear, and hope.”
—School Library Journal
“Joel Johnstone’s narration is spot-on as he puts
fear, confusion, and longing of a boy forced to
grow up much too fast into every sentence.”
—AudioFile
5 CDs • 978-0-3072-4618-9 • $45.00
Grade: RL: 5.6 • IL: 7-12 • LL: 860 • 5 hrs. 39 mins.
CUPID
by Julius Lester
read by Stephen McKinley Henderson
When the god of love falls in love himself,
things get interesting. And when he crosses his
mama, Venus, in the process…well, things
could get messy.
“[Henderson] tackles the sophisticated, poetic
prose with finesse, transforming the words
into something lyrical and special.”—Booklist
YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
5 CDs • 978-0-7393-4850-5 • $45.00
Grade: RL: 6.2 • IL: 7-12 • LL: 890 • 5 hrs. 43 mins.
CUT
by Patricia McCormick; read by Clea Lewis
An insightful look at cutting—a form of selfabuse
an estimated 2 million teenage girls
inflict on themselves.
“[Clea] Lewis meets the challenge of tearful
scenes. [She] never sounds phony, though, and
conveys the hope in McCormick’s ending,
which suggests Callie’s eventual recovery.”
—Publishers Weekly
YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
4 CDs • 978-0-7393-6446-8 • $38.00
Grade: RL: 4.6 • IL: 7-12 • LL: 660 • 4 hrs.
CYBELE’S SECRET
by Juliet Marillier; read by Justine Eyre
Paula accompanies her father to purchase a
rare artifact. Upon their arrival, a friend is
murdered. Paula realizes the murder may be
tied to Cybele’s Gift, and she must solve the
puzzle before deadly enemies catch up to her.
“Eyre...easily transports the listener from
Istanbul, through portals, to the Other
Kingdom, where magic abounds.”—AudioFile
11 CDs • 978-0-7393-7936-3 • $70.00
Grades: RL: 6.1 • IL: 7-12 • LL: 820 • 13 hrs. 51 mins.
See page 80 for WILDWOOD DANCING
DARK WATER RISING
by Marian Hale; read by Stephen Hoye
Seth’s family has just moved to Galveston.
Just as things begin to look up a storm warning
is raised, but no one could have imagined
anything like this.
“Hoye situates listeners into the characters and
the historic setting. Through excellent pacing,
he builds suspense as the storm worsens.”
—Booklist
5 CDs • 978-0-7393-6169-6 • $45.00
Grade: RL: 5.9 • IL: 6-12 • LL: 970 • 5 hrs. 19 mins.
See pages 62 and 71 and for more titles by
Marian Hale
A DAY NO PIGS WOULD DIE
by Robert Newton Peck
read by Lincoln Hoppe
In this classic autobiographical novel set in
the 1920s in rural Vermont, 13-year-old
Robert Peck comes of age when his father dies
and leaves him to manage the farm.
“It stands the test of time well. With humor
and honesty, he tells the emotionally intense
story of becoming a man, ‘doing what’s got to
be done’.”—AudioFile
4 CDs • 978-0-3077-3799-1 • $28.00
Grade: RL: 5.3 • IL: 6-12 • LL: 690 • 4 hrs.