Hello, everybody! I am so excited to begin sharing my thoughts about tweens and their world! Tweens are among the most remarkable and underrated groups of human beings in the world. These eight to twelve year olds are bursting with curiosity and creativity and are at the very beginning of earnest self-discovery. I am so very blessed to work for a library that allows me to focus on this fantastic age group and to have Pam as my amazing partner in crime! For this first blog, I am going to chat about a couple of fantastic audiobook series. I fell in love with audiobooks at a pretty early age. For most of my life, at least once a year, I have taken a nine to twelve hour road trip to visit my extended family. Needless to say, children locked in a car for nine to twelve hours NEED. TO. BE. ENTERTAINED.
And thus, my family was introduced to the unbelievably fantastic Hank the Cowdog audiobooks, which are read by the author, John R. Erickson. Hank is a pompous ranch dog in Texas who thinks he is a highly intelligent blue blood with supreme authority over all things. In reality, he is a scruffy ranch mutt of average intelligence who manages to get himself into more than average trouble, especially with the ranch wife, Sally May! Erickson has unique voices for all of his wonderfully quirky characters and even sings two original songs on each audiobook! While these aren't technically middle grade, I would highly recommend these audiobooks for any age! My family is about to make another one of those long road trips and I have already begun stockpiling Hanks to take with us. Check out Hank’s latest adventure, "The Almost Last Roundup," which will be released later this month!
Currently, I am listening to the How to Train Your Dragon Series by Cressida Cowell. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the How to Train Your Dragon movies from Dreamworks.
Sadly, these books can be excessively crude and crass at times. Nonetheless, Cowell has a singular gift for naming. Her characters, creatures, and places have some of the most creative and memorable names I have ever heard! Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is the heir to the Viking Hairy Hooligan tribe. However, Hiccup is unutterably ordinary and always manages to get himself, his best friend Fishlegs, and his mischievous dragon Toothless into dire and life-threatening situations. At this point, Hiccup just wants to experience at least one adventureless day and somehow make his dad proud. The engaging storyline and tantalizing mix of history and fantasy make for quite an enjoyable experience! Actually, let’s be honest, it’s probably just David Tennant’s Scottish accent. ;) I am currently working on Book 6: A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragon’s. Be watching for Book 12 this September!
Now we would love to hear from you! Do you ever listen to audiobooks? What are some of your favorite middle grade audiobooks? Until next time!
~Alyssa
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