Audio Book Review: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
By Chris Grabenstein
Narration by Jesse Bernstein
***** (book)
**** (narration)

"Mrs. G? This is Dr. Z. What is our white Bengal tiger doing in the children's department?"

From Goodreads:
Kyle Keeley is the class clown, popular with most kids, (if not the teachers), and an ardent fan of all games: board games, word games, and particularly video games. His hero, Luigi Lemoncello, the most notorious and creative gamemaker in the world, just so happens to be the genius behind the building of the new town library.

Lucky Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of the first 12 kids in the library for an overnight of fun, food, and lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the other winners must solve every clue and every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route. And the stakes are very high.

In this cross between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and A Night in the Museum, Agatha Award winner Chris Grabenstein uses rib-tickling humor to create the perfect tale for his quirky characters. Old fans and new readers will become enthralled with the crafty twists and turns of this ultimate library experience.


From Me:
Charming and utterly delightful. Who wouldn't want to go on a massive scavenger hunt in a library built by the ultimate maker of board and video games. This book was a lot of fun and one of the best depictions of a library (even one as impossible as Lemoncello's) I've ever read. 

I want to work in Mr. Lemoncello's library.

Audio Book Review: Silver

Silver
Author: Andrew Motion
Narrated By: David Tennant
Story: **
Narration: ********************

Silver is the unofficial sequel to Treasure Island and follows the offspring of Jim Hawkins (his son, Jim Hawkins...Jr., I guess) and Long John Silver (his daughter, Natty). They both set off to Treasure Island decades after that infamous first voyage to retrieve the part of the treasure that was left behind.

I have to confess, I didn't actually finish this book, but I have a few things to say about it. First, it wasn't a bad read - the author is very talented, almost lyrical, in his narrative. He's incredibly descriptive, making young Jim Hawkins' world easy to imagine.

That being said, the story wasn't exactly a page turner. It's possible that I stopped at exactly the wrong time, right when they arrive at the island, but the book was due back at the library, soo... That, and I wasn't able to get caught up in the story. I was listening to the audio book, and I honestly wouldn't have gotten past the first disc if it wasn't for the fact that it was read by David Tennant.

The Doctor was reading this book. My Doctor. The ULTIMATE Doctor.

And it was beautiful.

Seriously, you know how people say they'd listen to someone read the phone book? This was miles better than hearing the phone book. DT is hands down the best narrator I've ever listened to. And his voices! Most of the story was narration, but when he got to dialog, I'm telling you: it was MAGIC.

If you read and loved Treasure Island, I would recommend this "sequel." But look for the audio edition, because that's where the magic really is! It's like buttah.

Audio Book Review: The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1)

The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1)
by Rick Riordan

Audio CD, unabridged, read by Kevin R. Free and Katherine Kellgren
(*****)

From Goodreads:
Since their mother's death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them —Set— has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe - a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.
From me:
The Kane Chronicles are a new series by the author of the Percy Jackson books. And by new, I mean different - this book is a couple of years old now, but the series is not connected to the Percy books (at least to my knowledge). Where the Olympians series focuses on figures from Greek mythology, the Kane titles feature the Egyptian gods. One of my favorite parts of this book was how Riordan made history interesting.

Riordan did an excellent job of creating a world that was exciting and fun. It really lends itself to the audio format, as the main characters switch back and forth with the narration as though they're making a recording for future listeners (that, and Kevin R. Price and Katherine Kellgren did an amazing job voicing the narration). The reader/listener is drawn in by the adventure and mystery, but the story is also kept light by the teasing asides between Sadie and Carter as they're narrating. I like how Riordan kept this good-versus-evil, save-the-world tale more fun than scary. The reader also gets drawn into the story as though they may be one of the children with the "blood of the pharaohs."

A great read for the prescribed age-group of grades 4-9, but I got a real kick out of it, too!