Audiobook Books

Great audio CD, perfect for traveling or just before bed to help windown. The level of the stories would interest kindergarteners and first graders. My second grader, although he attends an immersion spanish school, thought the the pace was a little too slow. Reading the books is more appropriate for advanced firstgraders and secondgraders.

Continued stories in the series. Read by the author. Very good stories, kids love listening to it in the car!

My son has been listening to Magic Tree House for a year, and will listen over and over in the car. I got the second box set for his 5th birthday, which is today, so he hasn't listened to them yet, but I KNOW he will love the whole set. All his (boy) friends love MTH and they talk about the stories (we also have some of the books which we have read a lot too). The books are recommended for 2nd and 3rd graders, but my now 5 year old concentrates and listens to the stories, asking questions about some of the words or events that he doesn't know. Even my 2 year old will ask for Annie in the car!
A few friends with girls have tried the books, and the girls just weren't that into them.

The service was exceptional as always and, the CD's are a great hit for my children as they follow along with the books. Ages 5-7

just loves these stories. They really are fun to listen to, and now he can hear them when ever... no waiting for mom!

These are great CD's. My 4-year old daughter loves Frog and Toad. Someone gave her the book series for Christmas, which she now keeps in the car where we listen to Frog and Toad. The CD's don't have the beep to turn the pages (since they don't actually come with the books) but she's able to keep up. The voices are great. When I ordered this from Amazon it was missing 1 of the CD's but they were great with the exchange and replaced it immediatetly.

These stories are classics, very well read by the author Arnold Lobel. My four-year-old loves them and demands them over and over.

My three year old loves frog and toad, so I recently purchased the CD's for a trip. They were so entertaining to my son that he asked to listen to them nonstop. Sometimes he followed along in his book; sometimes he just listened. He can now "read" the stories verbatum, because he has listened to them so many times.

My son listens intently to this CD. His teacher in school plays these during nap time for those who choose not to sleep. He is very interested in all the stories even though he has heard them numerous times. We love this CD.

The expression on the faces of my three and five year old as they puzzle, smile and nod over the adventures of Frog and Toad is something I think I'll carry with me for a long time. The kids are fully engaged with the audio CD, and can now follow along with the printed words when I read the same stories to them from the Frog and Toad books.

While Arnold Lobel has a calm, kid friendly reading voice, he never panders or talks down to the kids. I like that. I also appreciate the gentle, absurd wit that Lobel weaves into these stories. I'm not kidding when I say that I could see the skeleton of a Seinfeld plot in some of these stories. Makes it easier for an adult in the car to listen to, that's for sure.

The audio book is truly excellent. I strongly recomend it, not only to youths. The CD is a full version of the book. It's performed by Jim Dale, who does an excellent job so that it's hard to believe that there's only one actor.

MK

Overall:
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4.5 stars for Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix. It is dense, quick paced book with a lot of character development and life lessons for the characters in the story. The concept of Death and the implications of Death are driven home for Harry. The book is like "The Empire Strikes Back" for the Star Wars Episode 4 - 6 for the Harry Potter series.

Characters:
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Harry is clearly a petulent teenager which is a scary thought given his magical abilities. I find Harry to not be very smart and keeps missing obvious things in plot as well as refuses to prepare himself properly for the upcoming battles / trials. Harry's disregard for advice by others is not something that should be encouraged in your readers. I believe JKR is trying to show the consequences of not studying and working hard but the consequences will need to be more dire.

Ron and Hermiene are showing more emotional growth and development that Harry to me. I do like to see that they are acting a bit more mature and seem to be learning from their experiences more. I do get tired of the nearly constant shout and temper tantrums by Harry.

Frankly, I find reading bits with Harry in it a bit annoying.

Story:
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The overall plot line of the Harry Potter saga is advanced quite a bit in the book. See other reviews for details (no need to recount them again here). JKR moves the story along to help set the stage for the Dark Lords return to full power. The theme of disunity and how it feeds the dark part of the human condition are large in the story. The death of Sirius is drastic blow to Harry especially the way it happens -- quick and due to carelessness by Sirius. The potential cost of their consequences is vividly demonstrated for the young characters in the book.

Action:
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The book has a lot of action in it. I will not go into all of the action scenes as other reviewers have done that admirably. The action is clean and crisp with enough pacing to keep you turning the pages late into the evening. J. K. Rowling's style for action is well established at this point and she keeps it consistent.

If you liked the other Harry Potter books, you will like the action and pacing in this book.

My biggest question regarding the book is why is the "Order" not killing off the Death Eaters one by one. It is fine to stun them but it does not solve your problem of having to fight the Death Eaters later. Since the dementors went over to join the Dark Lord in the last revolt, it should be obvious that the dementors will let the Death Eaters out of Azkahban at the worst possible time for the "Order". I understand that JKR is trying to say that killing is bad and damages your soul/changes you but it is a war. The lesson would be better shown by showing how a loved character is forever changed/damaged by the act of killing.

Also, if the Death Eaters start to get killed off, there will be less people signing up to be one knowning that those who "live by the sword will die by the sword". The Death Eaters will not stick together when they know death is really on the line...self-preservation will kick in vs. the need to serve a greater good that good characters have.

Prose:
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J. K. Rowlings writing style stays consistent with the prior two books. I am glad that see has decided to expand the descriptive language in her prose to help further build out the Harry Potter Milieu. The prose is targeted toward young adults so the vocabulary is fairly easy but she does not over simplify the language for the reader.

Summary:
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Overall: 4.5 stars
Characters: 4 to 4.5 stars
Story: 4 to 4.5 stars
Action: 4 to 4.5 stars
Prose: 3.5 stars

Yet another great Harry Potter book!! comparing to the movie... this book it's way beyond it. There's nothing like reading a good book and this is one of those books you must read =)

I think this was one of my favorites in the series. I have to say that Rowling does such a great job of creating characters that seem so alive, I actually feel as though I know them. I just want the story to keep going on and on and on.

The largest and second best, in my opinon, of the series is when the good side fights back. Voldemort is slaughtering "for fun" and The Order of the Phoenix won't stand for it. The Order of he Phoenix is basically the equivelent of the Justice League. The ending is a duel between the two greatist wizards alive and will keep you wanting more.

As meditation is a personal thing and everyone is drawn to different methods I thought I'd share a bit more about this cd.
It's basically a two line reading of each essay(81 essays) followed by a very loud "DAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO".
Think "AUM" but substitute DAO.

Personally, it's too loud and in my face. I was hoping for a gentle reading of each verse as I have the book and have really enjoyed it(see my review).

This is just an opinion as I know a lot of people like the "AUM". Duz it come with de AUM? No, it comes with the "DAO".

I am a big fan of Wayne Dyer's, especially his Tao work, but this CD is terrible. I listened to it once and I doubt I will ever listen to it again. Dyer will say a sentence then do 4 "Tao" chants (saying the word "Tao" drawn out for about 20 seconds each.) After listening to this several times, it became unbearable. This is a very disappointing CD.

I had experimented with a small sample that is given by joining wayne dyer's mailing list and rush to buy the complete cd. it's a good practice and i recomend you giving it a chance. (If you fell the need to try it first just do what i did)

I have always liked to listen to Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, and found his positive and spiritual messages enlightening. However, I was very disappointed with this repording. I thought he would talk a bit about each of the 81 TAO affirmations. Instead, he read each one in his soothing voice while beautiful, relaxing music played, and then broke the spell with three loud and repeated chants. I found the chants so annoying that I could not absorb the affirmations. In fact, did not have time to absorb an affirmation before his chanting virtually destroyed their power. It was extremely difficult for me to listen to the entire CD for the actual content. I believe it would have been much more effective if Dr. Dyer had explained the chant-meditation method and provided an example of his TAO chant (one time) in the introduction at the beginning of the CD. Without the chants I believe the CD would be a wonderful tool for meditation. I still like Dr. Dyer's works, but will never buy another of his audio books that states it is a meditation.

rating less than a star, I like Dr. Dyer's reading material and lectures; however his voice on this CD is terrible, don't know if even the masters can meditate to that loud, off-key scarry sound of Tao he repeats.

While I will not deny that this book is as fun of a read as any of the Potter's series, its weaknesses are hard to not recognize next to the other six novels. The novel sticks pretty closely to the formula of the Sorcerer's Stone. While it has all of the workings of a Rowling novel it does have a tendency to fall a little flat. The character of Professor Lockhart, while cute, pales in comparison to the other Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers (I'm excluding Quirrel from the Sorcerer's Stone because he is by far my least favorite). Also, this book seems less interested in furthering the story of Harry Potter unlike the remainder of the series. It is virtually a story within itself and could probably be skipped and the series would still be fully comprehensible. While I still give it four stars because it is an entertaining read, it does feel mainly to be a filler. It almost feels like Rowling was not quite sure where the series was going to go with this novel. The epic-ness of the story really begins with Prisoner of Azkaban and capitalizes in Goblet of Fire. Still worth reading but not nearly an signifcant as the remainder of the series.

I am quite pleased with this product. The quality of the sound and the packaging was wonderful. With this audio it has thrown me into the world of Harry Potter. It is as if I am there experiencing this every moment. I intend on purchasing each one of these so that I can escape the muggle world and leave my cares behind if only for a few moments

Harry continues his adventures as he learns more about his background. This is just as entertaining as the first novel, and was definitely able to keep my attention.

Summary: 3.5 to 4 stars
Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts is chronicled in the book. The adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermeine are documents for everyone's enjoyment. The book is a quick-read, enjoyable and a good follow-up to the first Harry Potter book. You can tell J. K. Rowling has created an interesting world that you want to know more about.

Setting:
The strength of the Harry Potter series is in the new fantasty world created by J. K. Rowling -- a twist on the normal and fey world...magically with humans and beasties vs. non-magical people. The book does an ok job of describing the world; the scene designers and artists for the movies have done a tremendous job of filling in this world. If you would not have the context of the movies, the books descriptions seem lacking to me.

Characters:
The character development is interesting and decently done through the mixture of the characters actions in a wide range of moral dilemnas and dangerous situations. The use of consequences for the characters actions is lightly done but it is nice to see that being done still.

Plot:
The plot is tight and well-thought out. The story is linear but it makes sense for the target age range for the books. Clearly, J. K. Rowling has developed a complex story line with this just being an element on the storyline -- the develop of background comes through.

Action:
The action is quick and to the point -- a nice feature for a book where you want to find out more about the setting as well as have the characters advance along in school to get more developed, more interesting/multi-faceted and see how the dynamics of various characters evolve.

Prose:
The prose style is clean, simple and effective. The simplicity vs the effectiveness of the prose shows a good command of the English language and a distinctive enjoyable style. It is not a great literary work by any stretch of the imagination but one does not expect that from this type of book.

Summary:
Setting: 3.5 to 4 stars -- I would give it 5 stars but only because of the world created and desribed in the movies but the book descriptions are thin and not well developed.
Plot: 4 stars -- good for a child's book
Characters: 3.5 stars
Action: 3 stars
Prose: 3 to 3.5 stars

This, the second book in the Harry Potter series, is better than the first, but not as good as the others. But that is just my opinion. In this book, Harry is beginning to wonder if he belongs at Hogwarts after a series of unfortunate events. I won't say anything else, exept that the series is a must read.

My husband and I listened to Secret LOB's while traveling. We listened going and returning but didn't get it finished. We spent the next afternoon relaxing and finishing the cd. We both felt it was one of the best Books on cd. Another book on cd for a really long travel is The White House by Margaret Truman. You can listen, stop, and return to listening weeks after for the trip home. She researched the White house and has many interesting inside stories of the people who lived and visited the White House.

The Secret Life of Bees is one of those books that is always talked about yet might not be as good as people say it is. You don't really know until you read it yourself. It has reached such a high pedestal in today's literature that it might just be hype. But it is certainly not. This novel was one of the best I have read this year.
Lily Owens, fourteen years old, is growing sick of her home. Conflicted by the memory of the day her mother died, Lily has to also deal with her mean father T.Ray, who routinely makes her kneel on grits. After her nanny Rosaleen ends up in jail, Lily decides it is time to take charge. She busts Rosaleen out and travels to Tiburon, South Carolina. All she has left of her mother is a little picture of the Black Madonna with Tiburon written on the back. Lily and Rosaleen are immediately taken in by three beekeeping sisters who have secrets to give and secrets to keep. Along the way Lily realizes the true meaning of home and family and meets a group of very special women.
This book is wonderful and relatable. As a teenager myself I find Lily very easy to listen to and to care for. The story moved along quickly, but didn't spare any detail. Every heartbreak and triumph committed by the characters was felt substantially. This book is not hype; it is truly a gem. And with the movie coming out, this book will certainly become appreciated and loved by more people all over the world.

This book was thought provoking, funny, truthful and very touching. I needed to read it slowly so I wouldn't miss any of the details. A great book for a vaction, even if the vacation is in the comfort of your own home. Enjoy!

Best read,artfully written.I was literally pulled from page to page. Cannot wait to see the film version, hope it follows the riviting story faithfully.

I know I am very late to the party when it comes to "The Secret Life of Bees". It was at a second hand store, and was the best of what was available, so I picked it up. The words and images in this novel set in 1964 South Carolina in 1964 were very evocative...when Kidd describes the oppressive heat - I can practically taste that hot, dusty air.

There were sections when Lily reflects on the mother she's lost and the father she never really had that touched my heart. This young girl's voice comes through so strong and clear that sometimes I forgot the loss she'd experienced. And then I would read something like this.

"That night I lay in bed and thought about dying and going to be with my other in paradise. I would meet her saying, "Mother, forgive. Please forgive," and she would kiss my skin till it grew chapped and tell me I was not to blame. She would tell me this for the first ten thousand years."

Anyone who has ever been either a parent or a child (!) couldn't help but be touched by the pain and loneliness behind those words.

Lily is a girl full of pain, hungering for the slightest bit of affection, and fueled by anger. And yet, I didn't get a sense that she wanted anyone to pity her - she just wanted the smallest chance at a normal life, the tiniest sign that someone valued her as a person, could recognize the hurt she felt.

"Did this mean that if I told May about T. Ray's mounds of grits, his dozens of small cruelties, about my killing my mother - that hearing it, she would feel everything I did? I wanted to know what happened when two people felt it. Would it divide the hurt in two, make it lighter to bear, the way feeling someone's joy seemed to double it?"

This book was an interesting mix of racial tension, Southern life, 1960's politics and the mysteries of female relationships. With so many intertwining issues, it was difficult for me to focus on the underlying message, but I did take an image from here, a message from there. And sometimes I just enjoyed the writing.

"The first week at August's was a consolation, a pure relief. The world will give you that once in a while, a brief time-out; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life."

At other times, I found my cynicism rising - sometimes, (and I understand how ironic this will sound in a story of girl whose mother dies and whose father does not love her) sometimes the events unfolding struck me as "too good to be true". Or more accurately, to coincidental to be believable.

In the end, though, this book has many lovely parts, many small windows into a world and time and life I will never know.

Good stuff. great thoughts. something we all need to take the time to reflect upon not thinking about.

this is a fabulous set. i've only just borrowed it from my neighbor, but i don't know how i'm ever going to give it back. i've already listened to two of the CD's twice, but all four are wonderful. i believe it was in the third one that i 'woke up' for a few brief and wonderous moments. eckhart was talking about rolling up the scroll on which you have writen your life story...and so i did. it didn't last long, but it was the best i've ever felt. it was as if nothing would ever bother me again. i was unbotherable :) my mind was completely silent.

lovely.

I love this cd. I would have given it 5 stars for content but the recording isn't great in the beginning. If you like Eckhart then this will be a nice addition as he uses a lot of humor at this retreat and it made me laugh at the folly of us all in everyday life. But, if you are only going to buy one cd, then buy the cd of his book "A NEW EARTH". So much more information.

I am so glad I bought this book. The DVD's and book are so clarifying and powerful. If you wonder about how your life could be better. If you find yourself worrying about past or future events. This book is for you. It's transformative. It's a spa for the mind.

Filled with a lot of great insights, as I've come to expect and enjoy from Eckhart Tolle. But what I really loved about this particular audio set was hearing what an incredibly playful sense of humor Eckhart has and that made listening to this Audio goldmine of self awareness all the more enjoyable. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I will only repeat what so many have said before me; this story is simply amazing and most of all, humbling. It reiterates a point made by so many people working in developing countries; education (especially of girls) is the key to eradicating terrorism, combating poverty and spreading peace throughout the volatile regions of the world.

It's incredible that one man can initiate so much positive change for some of the world's poorest. Incredible, I have not read something so inspiring since "Banker to the Poor". Simply, fantastic.

I didn't have any expectations of this book when a friend gave it to me; I knew nothing about it. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It is a thoroughly entertaining book and an enlightening read. It inspires you to want to do more. I highly recommend it!!!

This is a one man's journey through very diffucult times. I think there is only one Greg Mortenson . I wish that everyone could read that book and be inspired by him. If one can achieve 10% of what he achieved, the world would be better place by now.I respect him dearly and eternally .If he doesn't go to heaven I don't know who can???

Rare book that combines fascinating and eccentric characters with a diagnosis and cure for combating the intolerance and violence of Islamic fundamentalism. Greg Mortenson and his Afghan / Pakistan schools for girls are an effective and cheap solution for making a real difference in the lives of people in regions of the world that are increasingly important to us.

Do you believe that a personal story built on facts can persuade you to view the world differently? If your answer is `maybe' or `what do you mean?' or `yes' then I invite you to consider Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time. If you live in America, and do not yet know of Greg Mortenson, you need to hear his story and his larger-than-life dream.

Prepare to be entertained. Prepare to be wowed. Prepare to ask yourself, `is this guy breathing the same air I breathe?'

This is an adventure story way beyond "adventure." If you know a serious mountain climber, for example, you probably recognize his or her capacity to subordinate their basic human fears; don't know about you; in a world of X-games, that kind of adventure doesn't impress me so much anymore. However, that's where Greg Mortenson's story begins, climbing K2 in the Himalayas, and that's where Mortenson fails. It's in his failure and the resulting debilitating weakness that he resolves to go after a dream that requires more courage and grit and heart than any mountain climb.

What he discovers is the beauty and kindness and generosity of a people that we in America would instinctively (1) mistrust - they're Muslims, (2) minimalize - they're poor and uneducated, and (3) not connect with - they are very different from us Westerners - most of the folks Greg comes to know and work with have ancient customs they live by in making decisions that seem to ignore time or efficiency or modern advantages.

The political landscape of the mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan and other parts of central Asia can fairly be described as unfriendly and unwelcoming to an American with a northern European heritage. In fact, it seems to be THE source of our `terrorist problem' today. And yet, Mortenson figures it out. He goes where military operatives have tried and failed. How? Well, that's why you need to read Three Cups of Tea.

Greg Mortenson's determination to realize a dream of schools for girls in the rural mountain communities of central Asia is a living breathing bigger view of life, a deeper, more compassionate understanding of human nature, and a clearer picture of what we all can do to make this world a better place and a safer place for our grandchildren.

If you read (or listen) to one book or 30 books in the next twelve months, make sure you read Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...one School At a Time [Mp3] [Audio Disc] [Unabridged] [Audiobook].