Sound Learning Audiobook Collection Lists & Samples, Now Expanded In
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Sound Learning Audiobook Collection Lists & Samples, Now Expanded in 2020 Grades 6 through 8 Use this annotated list to guide your audiobook collection development for grades 6 through 8. Titles are divided into sections reflecting curriculum areas and a final section suggesting great listens for tweens and young teens beyond their classroom studies. Click on the link for a performance sample and read a format- specific review from the AudioFile Magazine database. Note: The designation #OwnVoices is used for titles both written and performed by those with lived experiences of the cultures the content reflects. English Language Arts Beowulf, written by Anonymous, translated by Benedict Flynn, narrated by Crawford Logan, Naxos Audiobooks, 2006 Monsters and murders make for intense listening when this much- assigned British epic arrives for listeners in modern English. Dead End in Norvelt, written and narrated by Jack Gantos, Macmillan Audio, 2011 This 2012 Newbery Medal story features the indomitable Jack Gantos, telling the “mostly” true adventures of a summer vacation that provide a funny yet meaningful listening experience. Gantos gives a nuanced performance of a young boy’s growing self-awareness. From our original Sound Learning APA Grades 6-8 audiobook list. Echo Echo, by Marilyn Singer, narrated by Joe Morton and Marilyn Singer, Live Oak Media, 2016 In reverso style poems, which can be read either forward or backward, the author and Joe Morton co-perform a series of verses based on Greek mythology. The Graveyard Book, written and narrated by Neil Gaiman, Harper Children’s Audio, 2008 Winning both the Newbery and Carnegie Medals, this fantasy novel is brought to life by the author. Eerie background music, well-crafted language, and the author’s compelling voice all work together to spark discussions of how setting shapes characters or plot in a story or drama. From our original Sound Learning APA Grades 6-8 audiobook list. Jazz, written by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers, performed by James “D-Train” Williams and Vaneese Thomas, Live Oak Media, 2007 Winner of the inaugural (2008) Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production, this audiobook combines painting, poetry and music into a mesmerizing whole. The two narrators’ readings expand the effect of the poetry, and the jazz music enables listeners to hear the nuances and emotions of the story (and move to the beat!). An #OwnVoices title from our original Sound Learning APA Grades 6-8 audiobook list. The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts: Being an Absolutely Accurate Autobiographical Account of My Follies, Fortune, and Fate, written by Avi, narrated by James Langton, Recorded Books, 2017 Avi’s exploration of early 18th century England, often more sordid than respectable, is captured by Langton, who moves from voices male to female, young to old, and coarse to refined with breathtaking ease. History and Social Studies The Adventures of Ulysses, by Bernard Evslin, narrated by Todd Haberkorn, Graymalkin Media, 2016 The journey of the hero, from Troy to his attempts to return home, is told in contemporary language. Haberkorn's performance makes every god, goddess, monster, and natural and supernatural force vivid. All’s Faire in Middle School, by Victoria Jamieson, narrated by a full cast, Recorded Books, 2017 From graphic novel to an ensemble cast, the story of a contemporary middle-school-aged homeschooler working in a Renaissance Faire where she feels comfortable and a public school where she doesn’t offers empathy-building listening as well as historically informed details. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank, narrated by Selma Blair, Listening Library, 2010 The definitive edition, including pages found by the Anne Frank House curators in 2001, comes to listeners through a narrator who makes the famous diarist sound contemporary and familiar. The Boy on the Wooden Box, written by Leon Leyson and Marilyn J Harran, narrated by Danny Burstein, Simon & Schuster Audio, 2013 The memoir of Leyson’s childhood as the youngest member of Schindler’s list is narrated by Danny Burstein with dignity. From our original Sound Learning APA Grades 6-8 audiobook list. Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, written by James L. Swanson, narrated by Will Patton, Scholastic Audiobooks, 2009 “The President Has Been Shot!” The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, written by James L. Swanson, narrated by Will Patton, Scholastic Audiobooks, 2013 In each of these titles, Swanson lays out the historical facts with text that is engaging and interesting, lending itself to being read aloud. Patton’s soft, southern lilt lends an additional level of authenticity. Finding Langston, written by Leesa Cline-Ransome and performed by Dion Graham, Dreamscape, 2018 Excellent research lays the foundation for an accurate portrayal by novelist Cline-Ransome of the Great Migration. Dion Graham supplies a variety of accents and inflections to make the journey of a Black family from their Southern home to better economic prospects up North vivid. This is an #OwnVoices selection. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, written by Laura Amy Schlitz, narrated by Christina Moore and a Full Cast, Recorded Books, 2008 Superb performances and excellent production will draw in students who might otherwise find it difficult to read this 2008 Newbery Medal winner. Medieval music sets the stage for monologues that capture the intertwining cross-section of village life, from blacksmith to the heir of the manor as the various narrators “take the stage” to present a memorable play. From our original Sound Learning APA Grades 6-8 audiobook list. Abraham Lincoln, written by Teri Kanefield, narrated by Pete Cross, Dreamscape, 2018 Pete Cross brings a straightforward and well-paced narration to a well-researched and accessible biography of the 16th President, which includes quotations from various sources and explanations of Constitutional changes made during his period in office. My Name Is Not Friday, written by Jon Walter, narrated by Dion Graham, Scholastic Audiobooks, 2016 The physical and emotional consequences of being enslaved are showcased in a story of freeborn 13-year-old sold into slavery just before the Civil War. Graham’s emotionally connected narration employs cadence, tone, and accent that allow listeners to relate to the a condition shared by thousands during this period. More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War, written by Kenneth C. Davis, narrated by Adenrele Ojo and MacLeod Andrews, Listening Library, 2018 MacLeod Andrews’ conversational tone makes this World War I history approachable to middle grade students, despite the horror of the more than 100,000 people now believed to have died during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Adenrele Ojo reads the timelines and charts with a removed precision, smoothly separating these facts from the more dramatic storyline. The several afterwords and appendices are also read by Andrews and offer insight into possible future global diseases, their causes, and measures of prevention, making this suitable for units on World War I or on the science of medicine. Revolution (The Sixties Trilogy, Book 2), written by Deborah Wiles, performed by Stacey Aswad, François Battiste, J.D. Jackson, and Robin Miles, Listening Library, 2014 Studies of the civil rights movement will be enhanced by the second of Wiles’ Sixties Trilogy, focusing on the events of Freedom Summer in Mississippi. With its multiple narrators and audio docudrama setting, the intertwined stories of two young people coming to terms with the effects of racism in the Jim Crow South includes news clips, protest songs, and other period background material are performed by Jackson and Miles. Roses and Radicals: The Epic Story of How American Women Won the Right to Vote, written by Susan Zimet, narrated by Cassandra Campbell, Listening Library, 2018 Votes for Women! American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot, written by Winifred Conkling, narrated by Christina Moore, Recorded Books, 2018 Two unvoiced readings take listeners from the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention that officially kicked off the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, to accounts of the suffragists and their involvement in the long struggle for women’s voting rights. Campbell’s vigorous narration unfolds Zimet’s expansive, uncompromising look at the many women who worked tirelessly in the movement, while Moore’s pleasing tones report Conkling’s examination of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and their sometimes discordant views on how to secure women’s suffrage. Both titles recount the racism that shattered collaboration between white and Black suffragists. This Is Our Constitution, written by Khizr Khan, narrated by Sunil Malhotra, Listening Library, 2017 Attorney, immigrant, and Gold Star father, Khan’s introduction to the U.S. Constitution is expressly written for middle-school-aged kids, and Sunil Malhotra’s reading quickly and thoroughly engages and energizes listeners in the exploration of our foundational laws. Troy, by Adele Geras, performed by Miriam Margolyes, Listening Library, 2002 Historical fiction building out on Greek legend makes for an excellent way to become acquainted with the people whose lives were intersected by the Trojan War. Both author and narrator are stellar storytellers who sweep listeners into history and make empathy a foregone conclusion. The Winter People, by Joseph Bruchac, narrated by Robert Ramirez, Recorded Books, 2003 The French and Indian Wars, as the 18th-century North American battles between what is now Canada and the U.S. are termed by the colonizers, are presented from the viewpoint of an indigenous Abenaki youth, in a fictional retelling of history by an author who shares some Abenaki heritage and a narrator well-known for channeling the voices of serious youth in difficult and realistic circumstances. STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Code Talker, by Chester Nez and Judith Schiess Avila, narrated by David Colacci, Tantor Audio 2011 The first-person experiences of a Navajo Code Talker employed by the U.S.