Listening In with The 2012 Armchair Audies – Middle Grade category

The Audies, sponsored by the Audio Publisher’s Association, are like the Oscar’s for audiobooks, and recognize distinction in several categories. Jennifer at Literate Housewife is hosting The Armchair Audies, and the idea is to divide up the listening responsibilities so that all of the APA nominees are covered between all interested bloggers. It would be near impossible for any one person to listen to all of the 28 categories, but 1 category per blogger is much more manageable. The Audies award gala is held in New York City on June 5, and we will see how our predictions line up with the winners chosen.

My chosen category is Middle Grade, aka Children’s Titles Ages 8-12. I was tempted by the Teen, Multi-Voiced, and Narrated by the Author categories but realistically can only pick one and Middle Grade won out. This is a great opportunity to expand my horizons in this area and I’ve had my eye on a few of the titles.

The five nominees for Children’s Titles Ages 8-12 are:

Countdown by Deborah Wiles. Narrated by Emma Galvin. Published by Listening Library.

The Hidden Gallery: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood. Narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Published by Harper Audio.

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. Narrated by Johnny Heller. Published by Recorded Books.

The Flint Heart by Katherine Paterson, John Paterson. Narrated by Ralph Lister. Published by Brilliance Audio.

Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson. Narrated by Debbie Allen. Published by Harper Audio.

If you’d like to participate in The Armchair Audies head over to Literate Housewife to select a category and get listening. I’m off to see if the library has these titles so I can get started!

Ornament

8 thoughts on “Listening In with The 2012 Armchair Audies – Middle Grade category

  1. BermudaOnion says:

    I’ve read two of those books and, to be honest, I don’t think Heart and Soul would be the same without the illustrations.

    1. Lucy says:

      That’s good to know about Heart and Soul, Kathy. Wonder if that will be the case with any of the other books. Maybe I’ll sneak a peek at the books too for reference.

  2. I’m glad your joining in. I haven’t listened to much middle grade fiction so I’ll be interested in what you have to say,

    1. Lucy says:

      Thanks! Hopefully I won’t have too much trouble getting hold of the books. Looking forward to your audie reviews as well.

  3. bookzilla says:

    I love the idea of audiobooks, but I’m rarely in a car for a long enough time to listen to a whole story (or remember it between long drives). I’m glad there are awards for them, though. The narrators I’ve heard are amazing, and deserve recognition.

    This is Bookzilla, stopping by from couchpotatocritic.wordpress.com. My stats indicate that your blog is subscribed to receive my updates. I’m sure you’ve seen my recent announcements about moving to a different domain, but I wanted to let you know just one more time. You can now find me at http://www.amypeveto.com — please drop by and (re)subscribe!

  4. Middle grade books can be pretty fun to listen to. Honestly, I bet you could knock these all out in one weekend, if you wanted to:) We are doing the mystery ones and are trying to figure out a way to get a few of them–I think they are only available on Audible. I’ve wanted to read Countdown for a while so I hope it is successful on audio. Happy listening, Lucy!

    1. Lucy says:

      I do like that the MG audios are a little shorter so I can fit them into the rotation easier 🙂 The mystery category looks really great and I’m looking forward to seeing what you all think of them. I’m having the same problem getting ahold of the audiobooks unfortunately. Countdown is read by one of my favorite narrators so I’m looking forward to it too.
      Happy listening to you too, Flannery!

  5. […] 5 of the middle grade audiobooks nominated for the Audie award, and you can see all the nominees here. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1330229685952-0'); }); Share […]

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