Turtle In Paradise

Turtle in paradise / Jennifer L. Holm ; read by Becca Battoe.— New York : Listening Library, 2010.
3 sound discs (3 hr., 48 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Unabridged
Compact discs
ISBN: 9780307738301

1. Cousins – Fiction. 2. Depressions -- 1929 – Fiction. 3. Families – Fiction. 4. Key West (Fla.) -- History -- 20th century – Fiction. 5. Treasure troves--Florida--Florida Keys—Fiction.

813.54

Turtle got her nickname from her mother because she doesn’t cry or get upset about by bad news, and in 1935 the world is full of bad news. Turtle’s mother has a new job in New Jersey as a housekeeper, but her employer won’t let her daughter live in with her. She thinks children are noisy and she can’t abide noise. So Turtle and her cat Smokey have been sent to live with her aunt and uncle and her three cousins, Beans, Kermit, and Buddy in Key West, Florida. All three cousins are boys and they own a dog named Termite, a cross between a German Shepherd and dachshund. It’s not love at first sight. The boys don’t want to make room for a girl and Termite doesn’t want to make room for a cat.

Beans, who, like Turtle, is eleven, is the boss of The Diaper Gang. It’s a babysitting service for infants. Beans tells Turtle it’s strictly, “No girls allowed.” This doesn’t bother Turtle. She has no desire to change diapers. The Diaper Gang is a thriving business because they not only change diapers, but they work for candy, not money. And they have an important trade secret: a never-fail cure for diaper rash. Tagging along with the Diaper Gang and their wagon full of tightly swaddled and dry charges, gives Turtle a chance to meet the neighbors. Everyone in Key West is known by a nickname: Slow Poke, Too Bad, Killie, Papa, Nana Philly, Pork Chop. Hardly anyone goes by their real name, but they all seem to know all about Turtle the day after she arrives. It’s a lot different from New Jersey.

The Glass Castle: A Memoir

The glass castle : a memoir / Jeannette Walls. -- New York : Scribner, 2006.
288 p. ; 21 cm.
ISBN: 9780743247542 (pbk.)

1. Children of alcoholics -- United States -- Biography. 2. Homeless persons -- Family relationships -- New York (State) -- New York. 3. Poor -- West Virginia -- Welch -- Biography. 4. Problem families -- United States -- Case studies. 5. Problem families -- West Virginia -- Welch -- Case studies. 6. Walls, Jeannette.

362.82092

The first thing Jeannette Walls remembers from her childhood was being on fire. The three-year old was standing on a chair boiling hot dogs when her dress caught on fire At the hospital the nurses wanted to know what a three-year-old was doing cooking hot dogs. “’Mom says I’m mature for my age,’ I told them, ‘and she lets me cook for myself a lot.’ Two nurses looked at each other, and one of them wrote something down on a clipboard. I asked what was wrong. Nothing, they said, nothing.”

Pulling up stakes and doing the skedaddle in the early hours of the morning was a regular part of her family’s nomadic existence going from small desert town in Arizona, Nevada and California, until her father’s inability and her mother’s unwillingness to keep a job landed them in Phoenix living off the inheritance of Jeannette’s maternal grandmother, and when that ran out to the home of her paternal grandmother in Welch, West Virginia. From there one by one, her older sister, Jeannette, her younger brother, and youngest sister set out for New York to find work, education and their own lives.

The Hunger Games

The hunger games / Suzanne Collins. -- New York : Scholastic Press, c2008.
374 p. ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 9780439023481 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Contests – Fiction. 2. Interpersonal relations – Fiction. 3. Reality television programs -- Fiction. 4. Science fiction. 5. Survival -- Fiction. 6. Women gladiators – Fiction.

813.6

Throughout Panem the most-watched television show of the year is the “Hunger Games.” That’s because everyone in the Capitol and its twelve subservient districts is required to watch as twenty-four tributes, twelve boys and twelve girls, a pair from each district, aged twelve to eighteen, chosen by lottery, fight to the death. This gruesome reality show is punishment for an uprising seventy-four years ago when thirteen districts battled the Capitol. Now there are only twelve districts and the survivors are forced to participate in the annual reaping.

Sixteen-year old Katniss Everdeen would rather be hunting with her friend Gale than participating in this grim lottery. Naturally, she hopes her name won’t be drawn, but when the name of her twelve-year old sister is announced, Katniss jumps in to volunteer. Soon she and her fellow tribute are on their way to the Capitol, where an alcoholic coach and team of make-up artists and trainers will transform the Appalachian coal miner’s daughter and baker’s son into lethal gladiators and glamorous stars.

The Quantum Rose

The Quantum Rose / by Catherine Asaro ; read by Anna Fields.—[Ashland] : Blackstone Audio, 2004.
WMA audio file (192605 KB) (13 hr., 23 min.)
Unabridged
(Saga of the Skolian Empire; Book 6)
ISBN: 9780786133680

1. Science Fiction 2. Skolian Empire (Imaginary place) -- Fiction.

813.54

While having a relaxing swim Kamoj Quanta Argali, the governor of Argali, and her bodyguard are surprised by a group of riders led by Havyrl Lionstar, who appear on the other bank of the river. Embarrassed by the intrusion, Kamoj quickly gets out of the water and dresses, but by the time she joins her bodyguard, the riders have left. Lionstar, who has recently arrived from another world, is notorious for being both rich and rude. As if this breach of privacy wasn’t humiliating enough, on the way back from the river Kamoj runs into another group of riders led by another notoriously rich and difficult man, Jax Ironbridge, the ruler of the neighboring province and her betrothed. It is not a happy meeting. And soon Kamoj finds herself caught in a political and emotional bind by the desires of the two stubborn and powerful men.

Dead Air

Dead air / James Goss ; read by David Tennant. – Bath : BBC Audiobooks , 2010.
WMA audio file (17220 KB) (1 hr., 12 min.)
ISBN: 9781408425022 (sound recording : OverDrive Audio Book)
Downloadable audio file
Unabridged
Requires OverDrive Media Console
Mode of access: World Wide Web.

1. Science fiction – Sound recordings. 2. Sound recordings – Drama. 3. Weapons – Drama.

822.92

In 1966 pirate radio station Bravo, anchored off the coast of the United Kingdom receives two extraterrestrial visitors, one bent on destroying everything in its path, and the other bent on destroying the destroyer. It’s bad news for the humans on board, and could be much, much worse for the entire population of the earth.

This sound recording about a sound recordings that’s a weapon of mass destruction, with its marvelous script, talented acting and excellent production make this BBC original audio story a superb science fiction thriller.