Try the NEW AudioBook Option!

Many books are available as audio books and may be enjoyed on an iPod or other MP3 player.  Click on the "Available as Audio" link for info on purchasing a gift certificate for an audio edition from Audible.com.

Buckley, Carol.  Tarra & Bella:  The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends
The touching real-life story of an unlikely pair who stayed by each other’s sides through thick and thin.

Carter, David A.  Snow Bugs: a Wintery Pop-up Book
In this fun book for young ones from the creator of the popular Bugs pop-up books, the bugs have taken up a variety of winter activities in this latest installment.

Morse, Jenifer.  Scholastic Book of World Records 2010.
An all-time favorite!  This colorful, kid-friendly record book has something for everyone from science to sports, and much more.

Mortenson, Greg.  Listen to the Wind: the Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea
This picture book version of the book Three Cups of Tea tells the story of how Dr. Greg Mortenson promised to repay the villagers in a remote Pakistani village by building a school after they saved his life.

Scanlon, Liz Garton.  All the World
Follow a family enjoying the simple pleasures of a summer day from morning till night.

Sports Illustrated Kids: Wow! The Pop-Up Book of Sports
This feast for the eyes for sports fans young and old brings to life historical events in sports history.

Swanson, Susan Marie.  The House in the Night
This Caldecott Medal winner is a simple bedtime book for the little ones inspired by a poem from The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book.

You’ve seen the movie, but have you read the book?

Barrett, Judi.  Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
A grandfather tells his grandchildren a bedtime story of the zany town of Chewandswallow, where the town is fed on showers of juice and milk and storms of hamburgers.

Dahl, Roald.  Fantastic Mr. Fox
Three mean farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean, are out to destroy Mr. Fox and his family.

Sendak, Maurice.  Where the Wild Things Are
The classic picture book of young Max who imagines sailing away to be king in the land of Wild Things after his mother has sent him to bed without dinner.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Chains
Isabel, a thirteen-year-old slave, wages her own fight for freedom, while protecting her sister Ruth from their owners, the malicious Locktons, supporters of the British. When she begins to spy for the Patriots, she learns that she has the courage to do what is necessary to cast off her chains.  Read about the Revolutionary War in the New York of 1776.

Beck, Glenn. The Christmas Sweater
Bestselling author and radio and television host Glenn Beck offers a holiday story based on a true personal story.  Eddie is angry and resentful when he doesn’t get the bicycle he wants for Christmas, until he loses his mother and must live with his grandparents, leading him through a journey of teenaged angst, conflicts with family, questions of faith and conflicts within himself, and teaching him the values of simple gifts, family love and respect.

Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire
In this sequel to The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark now encounter a rebellion connected to their victory.  Soon the next round of competition is coming up, and something unusual seems to be happening.  Katniss’ and Peeta’s distress at the widespread unrest they encounter is compounded by a romantic triangle in which they find themselves.

Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book
In this Newbery Award winning book, Nobody Owens, Bod, lives in a graveyard and is being raised by ghosts, a vampire and a witch, from whom he learns the powers of Fading and Haunting, which he then uses to protect himself from being killed by his nemesis.  This is a rich fantasy from an author with a talent for story-telling.

Halpern, Jake. Dormia
Alfonso Perplexon does strange things in his sleep, like climb trees and win games that he has no idea how to play. After a visit from his Uncle Hill, Alfonso has a mission to take a Dormian bloom from his greenhouse to its rightful place in Dormia, in order to save a Dormian city.  This first volume takes the reader immediately to the world of Dormia, the land of Alfonso’s father.

Kinney, Jeff. Dog Days (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series #4)
In this fourth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, we are once again brought into the day-to- day activities of Greg Heffley.  Greg’s mom expects him to be busy with outdoor activities during his summer vacation, but this plan is in conflict with his own, which involves staying inside and playing video games all day.  This is another humorous look at the conflicts of growing up a wimpy kid.

Korman, Gordon. Schooled
Unlike other thirteen-year-olds, Capricorn Anderson knows how to drive a car, but he’s never been to Starbucks or attended public school.  Everything changes when Rain, his hippie grandmother, ends up in the hospital after a tragic accident, and he is enrolled at Claverage Middle School, living with people he doesn’t even know.  After a cruel prank, Cap ends up the class president, but he surprises everyone with the way he handles his new role.  Through his strength of character, we see the underdog come out on top.

Peck, Richard. A Season of Gifts
It is 1958 in a small Illinois town, where we again meet Mrs. Dowdel, the irrepressible, self-sufficient grandmother featured in A Year Down Under and A Long Way From Chicago.  A Methodist minister, his wife and kids are the new neighbors next door, and in her own way, Grandma Dowdel teaches the Barnhart family about gift-giving, dealing with bullies, and what life can be like in a “podunk” town.

For those who like to listen, try these Odyssey Award winning audio books.

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Elijah of Buxton  
Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, where runaway and freed slaves have settled in 1860. When the money his friend has been saving to buy his family’s freedom is stolen, Elijah decides to go on a dangerous mission to Detroit to recover it. This 2007 Newbery Honor Book is now on audio, and Mirron Willis uses his rich voice to make the unique characters come alive.

Patchett, Terry. Nation
Thirteen-year-old Mau thinks he is the sole survivor of a tsunami that destroyed his island, when he discovers that he is not alone.  Daphne, a British, white-skinned “ghost girl” has survived a ship wreck, and together they struggle to protect a small band of refugees that have landed on the island.  In this engaging story of a clash of cultures there is sly humor combined with a sense of wonder.  Stephen Brigg’s crisp British narration brings the story and the characters alive.

Agassi, Andre.  Open: An Autobiography
Andre Agassi's new autobiography is an uncommonly well-written sports memoir that has been widely praised as honest, insightful and substantive; unvarnished and inspiring.  An excellent choice for any tennis player or sports fan. 

Barbery, Muriel.  The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Paloma Josse is a precocious young French girl who views her world as absurd. She despises her pampered life, her older sister and her well-to-do parents.  Renée Michel is the equally intelligent 54-year-old concierge of the small and exclusive Paris apartment building where Paloma lives.  Both characters hide their true talents and finest qualities from the world until Ozu, a wealthy Japanese man, arrives in the building.

Eggers, Dave.  The Wild Things 
An adult novelization of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book Where the Wild Things Are, by the author of the bestselling novel A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.  Eggers also collaborated with Spike Jonze on the screenplay of the recently released film version of Where the Wild Things Are.  Check out the really cool furry hardcover edition for the Sendak fans on your holiday list.

Gifford, Frank.  The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever
Frank Gifford is a former star of the New York Giants, a Hall of Famer and icon of ABCs Monday Night Football.  In this new book Gifford recounts the story of the now infamous game between the NY Giants and the Baltimore Colts which later became the single most memorable contest in the history of professional football. The book is not so much a retelling of the game as "an enjoyable telling of the men who played it."

Gilmour, David.  The Film Club: A Memoir
Fifteen-year-old Jesse Gilmour is unhappy at school and flunking every subject.  His father, a novelist, TV host and film critic does not want to force a formal education on his son.  Instead, he offers Jesse an unconventional deal.  Jesse can drop out of school if he agrees to sit side by side with his father to watch three movies a week that his father has chosen.  Salon.com described the book as "a funny, edgy, and self-deprecating memoir" that has plenty of "sharp little insights into movies too."

Gladwell, Malcolm.  What the Dog Saw: and Other Adventures 
Gladwell, the bestselling author of The Tipping Point, Blink and The Outliers, has just released this new collection of essays which, like his other books, encourages
readers to think again and think differently.  For this book, the author chose his favorite pieces from the pages of The New Yorker, where he is a staff writer.  Gladwell can write engrossingly about just about anything, including this eclectic assortment from this collection: Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?

Kamkwamba, William and Bryan Mealer.  The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
Growing up amid famine and poverty in rural Malawi, fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba had read about windmills in borrowed books and began to dream about building one that would bring electricity and water to his village and his family's farm.  Enduring the mocking of his neighbors William scavenges scrap metal and old broken tractor and bicycle parts, and builds his dream.  Kamkwamba's windmill project has brought him world-wide attention.  He has been recognized by Al Gore, Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab, and many other members of the international community of concerned scientists, economists, and citizens.  A very readable book that teaches us what one person with an inspired idea can achieve.

Pepperberg, Irene M.  Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence - and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process
In this highly readable, fascinating and moving book, Pepperberg, a professor at Brandeis University and teacher of animal cognition at Harvard, tells the story of her thirty-year relationship with Alex, an African Grey parrot.  Alex and Me is a marvelous "unforgettable story of a landmark scientific achievement and a beautiful relationship."

Stockett, Kathryn.  The Help
The Help, Katherine Stockett's debut novel, is a portrait of the intertwined lives of three women on opposite sides of the racial divide who experience the Mississippi ground shifting beneath their feet in the 1960s.  Eugenia Phelan is a young, naïve, unmarried white woman just graduated from Old Miss and returning home to her parent's cotton farm in Jackson. Determined to become a writer she turns to Aibileen and Minny, to collect the stories of the black women who raised many of the white children of the community.  

Whitehead, Colson.  Sag Harbor: A Novel
Set over the summer of 1985, Sag Harbor is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel. The fictional Benji Cooper is a skinny, nerdy, well-meaning fifteen year old and one of the only black students at his elite New York City school.  Every summer Benji and his brother spend three carefree months in Sag Harbor where his family is part of a small community of black professionals.  Although they hang out with kids they've spent every summer with since they were born, Benji thinks maybe this summer things will be different.  Whitehead, a MacArthur Fellow, is known as a master of the ironic postmodern narrative and for steeping his novels in pop music and culture.