Heard Any Good Books Lately? by Deborah Locke

udiobooks saved my life, I’m great young adult literature for • To introduce teenagers to convinced. Four years of Twisted Sister and Alice in Chains. I audiobooks as a source of A commuting from Westbrook, applied for a grant to purchase 20– enjoyment and recreation; Maine, to Boston, working on a 25 new audiobooks and four per- master’s degree in children’s sonal tape players. My stated • To stimulate an interest in literature, nearly ended in disaster objectives in the grant were: reading young adult books; when I fell asleep at the wheel. I woke up jouncing diagonally • To allow less-able readers to across the experience median the books strip, their peers headed for enjoy the Pearly reading; Gates— they were • To build orange and vocabulary read and enhance “Grossman’s.” the appre- Having ciation of survived language. that near- death When the experience, I audiobooks had a new arrived, I loaded cassette them onto a player book cart and installed in went peddling in my car and study halls, began combing giving brief audio area libraries for audiobooks. Music Vivid characters and compelling booktalks and distributing title lists. in the car had always lulled me into plots are brought to life in I attended an English department drowsiness; a good story on audio audio versions of these meeting to share ideas and sugges- kept me alert and alive. celebrated children’s books: tions for using audiobooks in the When our school district pro- Nancy Farmer’s Newbery classroom. In the library we dis- vided the opportunity to apply for Honor Book The Ear, the Eye, played audio titles in a highly minigrants for technology in librar- and the Arm, My Louisiana Sky visible browsing bin near the ies, the omnipresent Walkman worn by Kimberly Willis Holt, and circulation desk. The local news- by so many of my teenage patrons ’s classic Tuck paper did a nice feature on our gave me the inspiration to substitute Everlasting. audiobook collection (although we

26 B o o k L i n k s O c t o b e r / N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 1 were also spoofed in an editorial cartoon!). Web Connections By far the most valuable asset to our audio program was an innovative and enthusiastic teacher, Cynthia Rich resources for integrating audiobooks into the classroom can be found at Graves, who was always open to these Web sites: trying new techniques in the class- room. Finding herself challenged by • AudioFile at is a bimonthly audio an unusually diverse class that ranged review magazine that offers free online access to its Audiobook from advanced readers to foreign Reference Guide and, for subscribers, password access to an extensive students and teenaged girls interested archive of reviews. E-mail AudioFile at [email protected] for only in painting their nails, Cynthia a reprint of “10 Reasons Kids Learn with Audiobooks,” which provides planned a unit that would immerse powerful ammunition for the use of audiobooks in the classroom. her students in audiobooks. She • claims it was the most successful • In addition to suggestions for learning with audiobooks, a free online thing she’s ever done, finding that newsletter, and grant-seeking tips, Audio Bookshelf at has a Curriculum Connections link for most listening to books in audio format audiobook titles. Ten “Educators of the Month” have also been featured effectively unified instruction for the on the Web site, sharing their tips and techniques for integrating whole class. Below are a few of her audiobooks. assignments and projects. Although originally prepared for high-school • Audio Publishers Association at represents students, many are easily adaptable nearly 200 companies and organizations in the audio industry and gives for the lower grades. the annual Audie Awards for excellence in audio publishing in a wide range of categories, including children’s books. • Listening journals: Have students describe new characters as they • A description of KLIATT, a bimonthly magazine that includes many appear in the story line, as well reviews of audiobooks, may be found at . and then ask them to surmise • what the motivations were Listening Library at features behind-the-scenes information about the behind those events. recording sessions of selected titles, as well as soon-to-be-available online teacher guides. • Character letters: Invite students to write a letter from one character • Click on the School tab at the Recorded Books Web site at to find reading and teaching tools for your letter that might have been classroom, to subscribe to its free “School News,” or to search for titles written in the context of the book by theme. and that might have changed the outcome of the story.

• Art days: After experiencing a New York Times and other English is a second language, work of literature that was newspapers, and another based creating lists of new words as transferred from a written to a on an audiobook review, such as they are heard is highly effec- spoken medium, ask students to is found in KLIATT, AudioFile, tive. Students hear skilled experiment with translating the or Booklist, which assesses the readers introduce unfamiliar story into yet another medium quality of the audio production words with fluidity and a by creating original covers for in terms of characterization, natural tempo and can be the book, movie posters for an vocal color, tone, pace, music, confident that they are pro- imagined film version, and and sound effects. Compare the nouncing the new words portraits of the characters. reviews and discuss how they correctly. highlight different elements of • Audiobook reviews: Have stu- the story. It quickly becomes obvious that dents prepare two styles of book activities used successfully with review, one modeled on a • Vocabulary lists: For students traditional book review as in the who read haltingly or for whom Continued on p.29

B o o k L i n k s O c t o b e r / N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 1 27 Essential Listening

The following audiobooks are perfect “starter titles” for a • The Great Gilly Hopkins. By Katherine Paterson. Read middle-school audience. All titles are unabridged, and by Alyssa Bresnahan. Recorded Books. 1978. 4 cas- many are now also available in an audio CD format. settes (4¾ hrs.), $35 (0-7887-0740-X).

• • Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. By Judy Blume. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. By J. K. Rowling. Read by Laura Hamilton. Listening Library. 2000. Read by Jim Dale. Listening Library. 1999. 6 cassettes 2 cassettes (3 hrs.), $23 (0-8072-7868-8). (8¼ hrs.), $40 (0-8072-8118-2). Other titles in the series are also recommended. • Bridge to Terabithia. By Katherine Paterson. Read by • Tom Stechschulte. Recorded Books. 1977. 3 cassettes Hatchet. By Gary Paulsen. Read by Peter Coyote. Listening Library. 1992. 3 cassettes (3¾ hrs.), $30 (4 hrs.), $27 (0-7887-0693-4). (0-8072-8318-5).

• Bud, Not Buddy. By Christopher Paul Curtis. Read by • Joyful Noise / I Am Phoenix. By Paul Fleischman. Read James Avery. Listening Library. 2000. 3 cassettes by Melissa Hughes, Scott Snively, and others. Audio (5¼ hrs.), $30 (0-8072-8209-X). Bookshelf. 2001. 1 cassette (35 min.), $17.95 (1-883332-47-8). • Bull Run. By Paul Fleischman. Read by multiple narra- tors, including the author. Audio Bookshelf. 1999. • Lost! On a Mountain in Maine. By Donn Fendler. Read 2 cassettes (2 hrs.), $17.95 (1-883332-37-0). by Amon Purinton. Audio Bookshelf. 1993. 2 cassettes (2 hrs.), $17.95 (1-883332-04-4). • Catherine, Called Birdy. By Karen Cushman. Read by Jenny Sterlin. Recorded Books. 1994. 5 cassettes • Missing May. By Cynthia Rylant. Read by Angela Jayne (6½ hrs.), $44 (0-7887-0687-X). Rogers. Recorded Books. 1992. 2 cassettes (2 hrs.), $19 (0-7887-0377-3). • Crash. By Jerry Spinelli. Read by Jeff Woodman. Recorded Books. 1996. 3 cassettes (4 hrs.), $27 • My Louisiana Sky. By Kimberly Willis Holt. Read by (0-7887-0717-5). Judith Ivey. Listening Library. 1999. 3 cassettes (4 hrs.), $30 (0-8072-8289-8). • Dicey’s Song. By Cynthia Voigt. Read by Barbara Caruso. Recorded Books. 1982. 6 cassettes. (9 hrs.), $51 • Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. By Virginia Hamilton. (1-55690-619-6). Read by Lynne Thigpen. Recorded Books. 1976. 6 cassettes (8 hrs.), $51 (0-7887-0018-9). • The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm. By Nancy Farmer. Read • by George Guidall. Recorded Books. 1994. 7 cassettes . By Natalie Babbitt. Read by Barbara (10 hrs.), $60 (0-7887-0431-1). Caruso. Recorded Books. 1975. 3 cassettes (3½ hrs.), $27 (1-55690-852-0). Also available from Audio Bookshelf, read by Melissa Hughes. 1995. 2 cassettes • Freak the Mighty. By Rodman Philbrick. Read by Elden (3 hrs.), $21.95 (1-883332-13-3). Also available from Henson. Listening Library. 2000. 2 cassettes (3¼ hrs.), Listening Library, read by . 1995. 2 $23 (0-8072-7981-1). cassettes (3½ hrs.), $23 (0-8072-8511-0).

• . By Lois Lowry. Read by Ron Rifkin. Listening • When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. By Kimberly Willis Library. 1995. 4 cassettes (4¾ hrs.), $32 (0-8072- Holt. Read by Will Patton. Listening Library. 2000. 8312-6). 3 cassettes (5 hrs.), $30 (0-8072-8393-2).

• The Goats. By Brock Cole. Read by Ed Sala. Recorded • Whispers from the Dead. By Joan Lowery Nixon. Read Books. 1987. 4 cassettes (4¾ hrs.), $35 (0-7887- by Julie Dretzin. Recorded Books. 1999. 4 cassettes 1786-3). (4¾ hrs.), $37 (0-7887-3829-1).

• The Golden Compass. By Philip Pullman. Read by Philip • Woodsong. By Gary Paulsen. Read by the author. Pullman and a full cast. Listening Library. 1999. Listening Library. 1991. 2 cassettes (2½ hrs.), $23 8 cassettes (11 hrs.), $50 (0-8072-8062-3). (0-8072-0459-5).

28 B o o k L i n k s O c t o b e r / N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 1 Continued from p.27 dently from the respective points of against these resisters are publicity view of two different characters. Other for successful classroom audio printed literature often work just as teachers use portions of titles such as projects, the enthusiastic endorse- well with audiobooks. For students Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting, ment of student listeners, and with weak reading skills, however, the Toni Morrison’s Jazz, or Chinua subtle and constant “fertilizing” audiobook may provide their very first Achebe’s Things Fall Apart to illustrate with good ideas for implementing positive experience with literature. such literary techniques as irony, audiobooks in the classroom. The drama created by an effective rhythm, or dialect. In the library, audiobooks have narrator draws them into the book, Not all students will immediately become an accepted and essential and their ability to enjoy and compre- be comfortable with the audio part of our annual book and audio- hend the story independently can medium. Immersed in a multimedia visual budget. We’ve continued to have a profound long-term impact. world of television and the Internet, add to the number of personal tape Cynthia’s success has spread, our students receive little practice in players, and supply long-lasting influencing other teachers in the pure listening. Visual learners may rechargeable batteries. Student school to experiment with integrating find their first listening assignments a requests for titles not in our own the audio format into literature study. challenge. Teachers may wish to begin collection have been satisfactorily For some classes, one of the free-choice by using selected scenes to illustrate met through interlibrary loan, and reading assignments each year involves aspects of an assigned book, short those requested titles become the an audiobook. Students assigned a stories such as Don Gallo’s collections seed for our next purchase. historical fiction novel for U.S. history for young adults, or read-alongs where Deborah Locke is a librarian at Westbrook have the option of selecting an students use both the book and the High School in Westbrook, Maine, and has unabridged audiobook. One teacher audiobook in tandem. spoken about using audiobooks in the has two students share a cassette Some teachers will stubbornly classroom at national and state library player to listen to an audiobook resist audiobooks as the “lazy way” conferences. She and Cynthia Graves were together and then write indepen- recently featured as “Educators of the Month” of reading. The best weapons on the Audio Bookshelf Web site.

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