Redwall by Brian Jacques Audio Book

Redwall is one of those books that lingers in the mind long after reading. I first read about Matthais and the Abbey at Redwall back in 1986. Recently I spied the audio book of Part One The Wall and so I have spent a delightful few weeks revisiting this wonderful text. It is only part one of the first book so now I have bought the classic edition and will revisit part 2 and 3 over the coming weeks.

Listen to an audio sample here. The real treat is hearing Brian Jacques himself! Sadly he died in 2011.  Here is the first episode from the animated television series.  If you are new to this series you can read a summary of the plot here.

Here are some book covers for Redwall.

There are so many books in this series - a total of 22 plus extras such as this cookbook which I would love to see. The food mentioned in the Redwall series is one aspect I really enjoyed.

"Tender freshwater shrimp garnished with cream and rose leaves; deviled barley pearls in acorn puree; apple and carrot chews; marinated cabbage stalks steeped in cream white turnip with nutmeg."

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo audio book

I made a long car trip recently and took along several audio book including The Tale of Despereaux. I first read this wonderful tale (Newbery Medal) in 2004 and so I was amazed at how much a remembered as the audio book unfolded. Graeme Malcolm is a UK actor and he has the perfect voice for each of the characters from Despereaux himself, to Miggery Sow, the young girl who longs to be a Princess. From Roscuro, the cunning rat to the Princess Pea and best of all the voice of Despereaux's French mother.

Here is the blurb:

Here, reader, is the tale of a tiny, sickly mouse with unusually large ears, a mouse who takes his fate into his own hands.

It is the tale of a beautiful flaxen-haired princess who laughs often and makes everything around her seem brighter.

It is the tale of a poor deaf serving girl, who entertains foolish dreams of splendour.

It is the tale of impossible love, of bravery and old-fashioned courage.

And reader, it is tale of treachery, unlimited treachery.

It is the Tale of Despereaux.

You can hear a sample of this audio book here.  As my friend an I listened to this book she kept hearing biblical and classical literature references and near the end of the book was quite sure someone could use this book to complete their PhD thesis!

The audio format is especially a treat and this comment from the New York Times sums up why:
The narrator, who speaks directly to the reader, is wildly authoritative, over the top, funny and confiding.  New York Times

And so unwinds a tale with twists and turns, full of forbidden soup and ladles, rats lusting for mouse blood, a servant who wishes to be a princess, a knight in shining—or, at least, furry—armor, and all the ingredients of an old-fashioned drama. Kirkus

Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne audio book

“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.” 

Yes Winnie-the-Pooh is a very famous book and in my school library I even have a set of "non Disney" toys similar to the ones below (made from a sewing pattern) but oddly this book was not part of my childhood.  Recently I saw the movie Goodbye Christopher Robin and then I saw this audio version of Winnie.  I have spent a few days thoroughly enjoying this splendid production staring Stephen Fry, Judi Dench, Geoffrey Palmer and several other famous UK actors.  The music by John Gould is utterly perfect as is the voice of Piglet performed by Jane Horrocks.

So much happens in this story which is much longer than I realised.  My favourite scenes are in Chapter 9 - In which Piglet is entirely surrounded by Water.  It reminded me of Frog is a hero by Max Velthuijs.  Poor little Piglet is stranded by days and days of unrelenting rain. Piglet decides to send off a message in a bottle :

HELP!
PIGLIT (ME)

and on the other side

IT'S ME PIGLIT, HELP HELP!

Pooh finds the note several days later but being a bear without much brain he cannot read it.  Luckily he takes the note to Christopher Robin.  Pooh does have some brains, however, because he works out an ingenious way to travel using an empty honey jar.  He took ten jars up into the tree when he escaped the flood.  The friends gather together.  They need to save Piglet. Pooh suggests they use an umbrella as a boat because the honey jar is simply not big enough, and they set off to rescue their friend.

"And then this Bear, Pooh Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, F.O.P. (Friend of Piglet's), R.C. (Rabbit's Companion), P.D. (Pole Discoverer), E.C. and T.F. (Eeyore's Comforter and Tail-finder) ... set sail forthwith in a south-westerly direction, revolving gracefully."

Take time to listen to an audio sample here.  I listened the CD set of this audio book but can can buy it from Audible. Here are a few quotes to make you smile.  In our library we also have Finding Winnie the true story of the world's most famous bear.  Winnie-the-Pooh was published in 1926, Christopher Robin was born August 1920, The House at Pooh Corner is the second set of stories about Winnie and it is in this second book you can read about the game of pooh sticks.

“If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” 

“My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.” 

Thalia the failure by Robin Klein

"Hecate cast a spell on her pretty bracelet. All the silver charms turned into nasty things - a tiny silver hand grenade that really worked, a live silver spider, a silver rat-trap all set to spring, 

a silver dagger that would stab a bee, a tiny silver snake that wriggled and hissed."

We have a large audio book collection in our school library so I often borrow a few over holidays when I may be taking a longer car trip.

Thalia the Failure is a very old book.  It was published in 1984 but it is still a really great book to read or listen to, as I did with the audio book.

Thalia does not want to go to Madame Aquila's Academy for witches she would much prefer to go to Ferntree Primary with her friends Lyneve and Tracy Dodds but she is a polite girl and she does not want to cause a fuss so she sets off for her new school and tries really hard in every class but she just can't do any of the things her teachers expect and worse everything seems to go horribly wrong.

Magic with Ms Fizz
Broom handling with Madame Aquila
Crystal ball gazing with Fortuna the Gypsy
Cooking with Monsieur Diable

Madame Aquila keen to pass Thalia because Mrs Birtles has promised to gift the school a new planetarium.  The description of Madame Aquila is one you could use with a class :

"Madame was most impressive to look at.  Her gown was made of fine cloth spun especially by a whole colony of funnel-web spiders, and her fingernails had never been cut in her life. They were twenty centimetres long and curled like French horns."

Her classmates bully and tease Thalia.  Early on they send her to Coventry. Thalia knew this meant no one would talk to her but what it really means is they send her to the real city of Coventry.   At the final graduation everything comes to a head and Thalia explodes.  This is actually a good thing because it gives Madame Aquila the idea to say Thalia has skills beyond those of the academy "she'll have to change to a different school. With powers such as we have just witnessed, it would be much too dangerous to award her a diploma to practice magic."

The audio book is read by Caroline Lee. This little book should still be in most school libraries and would make a perfect read-aloud for Grades 2 and 3.

A necklace of raindrops by Joan Aiken illustrated by Jan Pienkowski

A necklace of raindrops is the oldest book in our school library. It still has the price tag of $5.25. This book was first published in 1968 but recently I saw the audio CD listed in an online catalogue so I quickly purchased it.  I have spent a delightful few days listening to these eight highly imaginative and satisfying stories.

The story titles are  :

• A necklace of raindrops
• The cat sat on the mat
• There's some sky in this pie
• The elves in the shelves
• The three travellers
• The bakers cat
• A bed for the night
• The patchwork quilt

I think my favourites are the first and last in the collection.  In the first the North Wind gives Laura a gift as a thank you to her parents.

"You must put it round the baby's neck, ... the raindrops will not wet her, and they will not come off. Every year on her birthday, I will bring her another drop. When she has four drops she will stay dry, even if she goes out in the hardest rainstorm."

The predictions go on and on all the way up to ten raindrops on the necklace but then comes a warning  the necklace must never be broken or it might bring bad luck.  Naturally there is a catastrophe involving a jealous girl called Meg who wants the necklace. After some wild adventures including a trip to meet the King of Arabia there is a very satisfying happy ending.

In the final story Mrs Noot makes a beautiful quilt as a gift for her grandson Nils.  "Mrs Noot sewed twelve pieces into a star. Then she sewed the stars together. She sewed them with gold thread and silver thread and white thread and black thread."  Meanwhile the wizard Ali Beg likes to fly around on his magic carpet stealing things that take his fancy.  His poor camels are starving so one night they eat the carpet - all except for a tiny square underneath Ali Beg. He is furious and so he tells the carpet to take him to a new carpet.  He eventually arrives at the home of Mrs Noot.

The good news you can still buy this book.  It now costs around $20 and still contains the very special illustrations from Jan Pienkowski.  You can see a couple here.

If you now have a taste for short stories you might like to look for The witch word by Margaret Mahy and The Puffin Book of Five Minute stories both of which you can find in our school library.

Magic has never been more elegantly shaped than in these effervescent short stories

Bartlett and the ice voyage by Odo Hirsch

I am a massive fan of Odo Hirsch and I often recommend his books to the students who visit my school library.  I am such a fan that when people talk about inviting six authors to an imaginary dinner party Odo Hirsch is always at the top of my list.  Read his book Hazel Green to see why I would bake Chocolate Dippers.

I bought home the audio book of Bartlett and the Ice Voyage which I first read in 1998. There have been times over the last weeks when I just could not get out of my car because I needed to listen to a little more of this engrossing story.  I can see why this book was short listed for the Blue Peter Award in 2001.

The Queen is given every treasure you can imagine for her birthday from every part of her extensive kingdom but the one thing she desires is a melidrop.  They grow in a far away land and spoil one day after picking.

"People sent melidrop seeds, but they failed to shoot. They sent melidrop trees, but their leaves curled up and died. Then the people tried sending melidrop fruit, but no matter how early they picked them, the fruit always spoiled in the box. The Queen would open the packing case to find a disgusting, smelly pile of darkened melidrop skins."

The Queen is desperate to taste this exotic fruit but she is unwilling to travel the vast distance needed. One of her advisers, Sutton Pufrock, introduces the queen to  Bartlett and his friend Jacques le Grand. Sir Hugh Lough is not impressed :

"this famous Bartlett was about as dashing a milkman. He had freckles on his face and his hair was obviously not very friendly with his comb. His fingers were knobbly. He came to see the queen in a plain shift, patched trousers and a pair of worn leather boots ... creased and creviced as a turtle's neck."

Bartlett does find a way to transport the precious melidrop.  You need to read the story for yourself but his method is quite inventive and perhaps surprising.

There is so much to discuss as you read this book.  How can Bartlett bring back a melidrop? Should he try to bring a large quantity?  Will the Queen even like the fruit and will this satisfy her desire for unusual gifts? Odo Hirsch is a master of description - so many parts of this book could be used as writing models for your class.

My favourite scenes involve food (as usual).  When Lord Roland of Tull visits the Queen each Thursday he enjoys eating her little butter cakes and sipping tea. After months of waiting Bartlett has not returned with the precious melidrop. The Queen is impatient and furious and she now shuns Lord Roland but one day he does come for tea. "He stared. There were lemon slices on the plate. Where were the butter cakes? What had the queen done with the butter cakes?"  You are sure to grimace as he is forced to do more than take a dainty bite of this bitter slice.

Here are my reviews of two other Odo Hirsch titles - Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool, Darius Bell and the crystal bees.

Our copy of Bartlett and the Ice Voyage is in very bad shape so once again I have searched a second hand seller and found a copy.  It is on the way.  Here is a five minute audio sample from page 10 onwards describing the giraffe which the Queen is given as one of her multiple gifts.  This book is also available from itunes.  Here is the Kirkus review.

I would pair this book with The Greatest Treasure of Charlemagne the King and The quiltmakers gift.

The Margaret Mahy Treasury audio book read by Margaret Mahy

Our Grade Two classes are currently exploring some of my favourite books by New Zealand author Margaret Mahy.  Every year or two we revisit her work and I continue to marvel at her story telling and rich vocabulary.  Last week we read The Pumpkin man and the Crafty Creeper and in past weeks we read Jam and Beaten by a Balloon.

This week as I drove to work I have been listening to The Margaret Mahy Treasury audio book.  This CD contains six stories all read by the author herself :

The Witch in the Cherry tree
A Summery Saturday morning
The boy with two shadows
Jam
The Three Legged Cat
The boy who was followed home

We do have all of these books in our library (we have 42 of her books in total).  Margaret Mahy wrote over 120 books not to mention her huge output of short stories.

Listening to Margaret Mahy reading her own stories this week really allowed me to appreciate her very special talent of narrative inventiveness.  The witch in the story of The Witch in the Cherry tree is so cunning, she tries a host of ploys to get her hands on those cakes but the little boy is not fooled.  You can almost smell the fresh cupcakes and feel the warmth of their kitchen. The Three Legged Cat contains such delicious words - rascally roving swagman, revolting moulting Russian hat, chinwag. dot-and-go carry and Cardamon Street. This is such a satisfying story.  Mrs Gimble gets the perfect "cat",  Cyril has the perfect travelling companion and the cat is able to see the wonders of the world.

I have previously review The man whose mother was a pirate, The Rattlebang picnic, and Jam

Today I was browsing through our new NSW School Magazine anthology.  As I flipped the pages I saw several stories by Margaret Mahy. I can't wait for our copy to arrive so I can explore these stores further.

Margaret Mahy was much talked about and missed at the recent IBBY Congress in New Zealand.  It was good to see displays of her books, her huge chair (Down the Back of the Chair) and listen to other acclaimed NZ authors celebrate her enormous achievements.  I kept thinking how much she would have relished participation in the congress - a celebration of the wonderful world of children's books.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster audio book

And in the very room to which he sat, 

there were books that could take you anywhere ...

Norton Juster The Phantom Tollbooth last page!

It is wonderful to add new books to our library nearly every week but I do worry that some 'classics' might slip off the radar.

One of our splendid teachers recently retired.  The Phantom Tollbooth, first published in 1961, was a firm favourite as a class read-aloud.  I am sure hundreds of children who were lucky enough to be in her class will fondly remember listening to the joyous, turbulent, exciting, funny, wild story.

When I saw the audio book recently I happily purchased it for our school library.  As a bonus this version is read by David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) and he is a splendid narrator.  We have a copy of If you give a pig a pancake by Laura Numeroff which he narrates so I knew I would be in safe hands.

I am in awe of this audio book because David has to sustain so many disparate voices.  He does this brilliantly.  The best voice he saves for right near the end when our intrepid heroes meet the Gelatinous Giant.

I am not going to outline to complex plot for The Phantom Tollbooth.  If you click this quote it will take you to a splendid review in the New Yorker which was written to celebrate the 50th Anniversary.

What Milo discovers is that math and literature, Dictionopolis and Digitopolis, should assume their places not under the pentagon of Purpose and Power but under the presidency of Rhyme and Reason. Learning isn’t a set of things that we know but a world that we enter.

I want to focus one chapter which really tickled my funny bone.  In Chapter 18 Milo, Tock and the Humbug have almost reached the castle.  They are so close the Rhyme and Reason but there is one more obstacle - the senses taker.  Listening to the audio book you will at first think this is the census taker.  I can't wait to use this in August when we have a census here in Australia :

"I'm the official senses taker and I must have some information before I can take your senses.  Now, if you'll just tell me when you were born, where you were born, why you were born, how old you are now, how old you were then, how old you'll be in a little while, your mother's name, your father's name, your aunt's name, your uncle's name, your cousin's name, where you live, how long you've lived there, the schools you've attended, the schools you haven't attended, your telephone number, your shoe size, shirt size, collar size, hat size, and the names and addresses of six people who can verify all this information ... "

There is so much information available to use for your study of this book.  Here are a couple of sites to get you started.

Figurative Language

Video interview with Norton Juster.  This audio book also has a terrific interview at the end of the fourth disk.

Chapter by chapter questions

Plan to pick up the book or the audio book of The Phantom Tollbooth it is indeed a book that can and will take you anywhere!

The twenty-seventh Annual African Hippopotamus race by Morris Lurie

A colleague of mine has been reading the classic story The Twenty-Seventh Annual African Hippopotamus Race to our Grade 2 classes over the last few weeks so I decided it was time to listen to the audio book.

This story is such a treat.  You just know from the beginning that Edward is destined to win this important race along the Zamboola River. It is a long journey to race day but Edward never looses his happy manner and joyful wonder. "Gosh" is his favourite word and each time it is repeated I just smiled and smiled.  I know when we were reading this book in the library everyone was cheering as Edward reached the last stages of his race.

It might amaze you to discover this book is 44 years old.  Here is a web quest based on this book. Here is a set of worksheets and a story extract.

I have been recommending this book, especially during Olympic years, for a long time.  I am glad I found our CD so I could listen to this terrific story of courage and determination.  One more thing to mention.  Edward has brilliant support from his whole family - mum, dad and his special grandfather who is himself a former race winner.

The boy with magic numbers by Sally Gardner

Audio books are an ideal way to pass the time on a long journey.  Yesterday I had a long drive to visit a friend in her school library so I took along The Boy with magic Numbers read by Andrew Sachs.

I read this inventive little novel many years ago but I had forgotten so many details and the audio version was an added delight.

Billy Pickles arrives home from school one day to find his dad has left them and flown away to New York. He leaves Billy a strange money box which has curious instructions about using a double B battery and inserting a nickle.  Billy has neither of these things so the money box sits on his shelf. Along with a gift dad has left a huge pile of bills and so sadly Billy and his mum are forced to move into a room above dad's barber shop where mum, who is a hairdresser, must now try to eek out a living.

One day Billy receives an invitation to visit his dad in New York.  He takes the money box and is met at the airport by his Italian grandmother called Mighty Mama and his uncle.  As Billy returns to his Uncle's apartment after a confusing visit to dad and his new girl friend, Billy sees a man selling batteries.  He buys a double B battery and then back at Might Mamas he puts it in the money box, feeds in two nickles and the money box comes to life. It speaks to Billy and says some rather odd numbers.

The next day Billy and Mighty Mama are watching a television game show.  The host asks viewers to guess how many chocolate chips have been used in a large cake. Billy asks Mighty Mama if he can call in with the number from his money box.  By now you have guessed what will happen.  Billy wins the cake and a ride over New York in a helicopter. The battery is not long life but over the next few days the numbers from the money box will bring about huge changes to Billy and his family and friends.

I especially love the final chapter. There are six books in this series and we have some of them in our school library. This is a perfect book for someone wanting a quick and funny book with an interesting quite unpredictable plot.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I am not sure if I actually read The Secret Garden when I was a child but I do remember reading it at University. As I was working on our library stock take I discovered we had the CD of this classic read by Helena Bonham Carter so for the last week I have listened to this magical story driving to and from school. Helena Bonham Carter has the perfect voice for this story especially the parts for the characters with Yorkshire accents. When Ben Weatherstaff encounters Colin, Mary and Dickon in the secret garden it is a moment of high emotion which made me cry. “There was Ben Weatherstaff’s indignant face glaring at them over wall from the top of a ladder! He actually shook his fist at Mary.” He begins a tirade of abuse that Mary has betrayed his trust when he suddenly stops. Dickon has wheeled Colin over to the wall and Colin confronts Ben. Ben recognizes Colin as he has his mother’s eyes but also exclaims that he cannot imagine how a crippled boy like Colin could have made it out into the garden. This puts Colin into a rage and he stands up, supported by Dickon, and shows that he has neither a crooked back not crooked legs. Ben “choked and gulped and suddenly tears ran down his weather-wrinkled cheeks as he struck his old hands together.” If you do not know this famous book it all begins when Mary, an only child of busy and disinterested parents, is caught up in a Cholera outbreak in India. When both her parents die she is sent to England into the care of her Uncle, a recluse who lives at the beautifully named Misselthwaite Manor which is located on the edge of the moor. I have never seen a moor but books like The Secret Garden and of course Wuthering Heights have given me a lasting impression of this landscape. At the manor Mary must amuse herself and so she wanders around the extensive gardens and discovers there is a mystery -a secret garden that has been locked up for ten years and the key is lost. Mary, with the help of a friendly robin, finds a way into the garden and she begins to tend and nurture it. She also discovers Colin. Often I have to advise parents that ‘classics’ of their childhood memory may not appeal to modern children but I do not think this will ever be the case for The Secret Garden first published in 1912. The joy of watching the garden grow, of seeing Mary and Colin transformed into happy, healthy and friendly children and the care and love shown by Dickon and his mother are timeless threads. I seem to always talk about food in this blog but another favorite scene of mine is when Mrs Sowerby, Dickon’s mother, sends along food for the growing children. “Dickon … bought forth two tin pails and revealed that one was full of rich new milk with cream on the top of it, and that the other held cottage-made currant buns folded in a clean blue and white napkin, buns so carefully tucked in that they were still hot.” The image of the blue and white napkin is such a lovely one. We have several copies of The Secret Garden in our school library – an abridged version for younger readers, a beautiful illustrated large text illustrated by Robert Ingpen and the audio CD. Look for this wonderful story in our library soon. If you enjoy The Secret Garden you might also look for books by Rumer Godden especially Miss Happiness and Miss Flower and books by Noel Streatfeild which I have already talked about in this blog.

If bees rode shiny bicycles by Michelle A. Taylor

I know I have not reviewed many poetry books but here is one to treasure and it came to my attention again because we have just purchased the audio version so each day for the last week I have listened to this lovely assortment of poems as I drive to and from my school.

I won’t quote the whole poem from the title it is a little too long but here are a couple of verses :
If music shone like silver
And books were made of bread
If words were jam and treacle
And hugs were coloured thread

If sleep was socks and slippers
And Sunday was a frog
If bees rode shiny bicycles
With an octopus for cogs ...

If money was marbles and lollipops
And word an annoying itch
If imaginations were endless
Then we’d all be rich!

My favourite poems in this collection are Lollipops, Green peas, Chasing the clock and the four poems about the seasons called Ten Syllables.

In this web site you can see the first 30 pages of the book in full. For teachers if you are talking about insects or sea creatures or Australia Animals and you want a poem or two then this is the perfect book. Also the title poem might inspire your writers.