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Save your sanity with audio diversions for kids
REVIEWS BY SUKEY HOWARD
A dollop of Dahl might be just the thing, and 18 Roald Dahl favorites are available now from HarperCollins, including Natasha Richardson reading The BFG, Lynn Redgrave reading The Witches and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, performed by Eric Idle. More Dahl audios are on their way.
By Roald Dahl HarperCollins, $25.95 4 hours unabridged, CD ISBN 0060852739
By Roald Dahl HarperCollins, $25.95 4 hours unabridged, CD ISBN 0060536160
By Roald Dahl HarperCollins, $25.95 3.5 hours unabridged, CD ISBN 0060852801
By Kate DiCamillo Listening Library, $19.95 2 hours unabridged, CD ISBN 0307245934
By Andrew Clements Simon & Schuster Audio, $19.95 3 hours unabridged, CD ISBN 0743555600
By Stuart Hill Scholastic Audio, $44.95 15.5 hours unabridged, CD ISBN 0439875919
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When the kids are in the car, one phrase you definitely don't want to hear is "are we there yet?" The sure cure for the travel blahs is a supply of entertaining audios to keep everyone happy, adults included.
There's a wonderful recording of Newbery Medal winner Kate DiCamillo's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane that's guaranteed to delight 7- to 10-year-olds and everyone else who listens. It's the timeless tale of an elegant, arrogant china rabbit with fine clothes and a gold pocket watch who takes love for granted. Then, in a reversal of fortune, Edward learns about love, loss, hope and opening your heart. Narrated by Judith Ivey, who makes you remember the true joys of being read to and of hearing improbable endings.
Ted Hammond, the hero of Andrew Clements' Room One is the only sixth-grader in Plattsford, Nebraska, a peaceful speck on the Great Plains, with a one-room school house and a dwindling population. Hooked on reading mysteries, Ted comes face to face with one when he sees a girl in the window of an abandoned farm. Finding out why she's there ultimately brings this tiny town to help the homeless family of a soldier killed in Iraq. Timely, convincing and well read by Keith Nobbs, here's a story to keep 8- to 12-year-olds and their families engaged.
For a slightly older crowd, especially fantasy fans, there's Stuart Hill's The Cry of the Icemark, a swashbuckling epic starring a super-gutsy warrior queen and her buddy, the son of a witch. Together, they must unite Icemark's werewolves, vampires and talking snow leopards to defeat the evil invaders. This rollicking tale should keep listeners from whining about the heat, the traffic and the enforced togetherness of family car trips, so pack your headphones and hit the road!