Stuart Little by E.B. White

Title: Stuart Little

Author: E.B. White

Read by:  Julie Harris

Publisher: Listening Library

Length: Approximately 1 hour and 57 minutes

Source: The Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Stuart Little is a small mouse that is born to a human family (don’t think about it too much) in New York City.  He lives in his family with his parents, normal size human brother George, and their cat Snowbell.  Stuart’s parents use dollhouse items and craft other items for Stuart to have a somewhat normal life.  Stuart has a lot of adventures that could only happen to a small mouse with human characteristics.

One day he befriends Margalo, a beautiful bird.  She lives with them and rescues Stuart when he is accidentally thrown away with the trash.  As an environmental engineer, I really liked this part.  The kids were horrified that back in the “old days” New York would put their trash on a barge and dump it into the ocean.  Stuart is sure it is the end for him until his friend Margalo appears.

Stuart has other adventures such as winning a sailboat race in central part, and finding a car that he uses to drive around.  The story ends when Stuart is searching for Margalo.  He also finds a girl his size who is a human and not a mouse.  Why was Stuart born a mouse?  I still wonder.

The entire family enjoyed this story, although we were all surprised by the very abrupt ending.  I had to Google it after it ended to make sure we hadn’t missed a CD or something as it didn’t seem at all like the story had ended.

Julie Harris was a perfect audiobook narrator who brought life to the story and gave voice to the different characters.  We all enjoyed listening to her.

We listened to this audiobook as a part of our local library’s Family Reading Challenge this summer.  We ended up being lucky winners for the challenge and won four tickets to the Packer Family Night last weekend.  Unfortunately, we are a family of five and the tickets were for four so Ben and the boys had a “guys night” out with their friend Zach while Penelope and I watched a movie.

Overall, Stuart Little is a great adventure tale and a wonderful audiobook to listen to as a family.  Be forewarned that it has an abrupt ending.  I would rate this third out of E.B. White’s books with Charlotte’s Web number one and The Trumpet of the Swan at number two.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

Title: The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Author: Beverly Cleary

Read by: William Roberts

Publisher: Random House

Length: Approximately 2 hours and 25 minutes

Source: Kewaunee Public Library

We are participating in the Family Reading Challenge at our local library, Kewaunee Public Library.  With kids ages 12, 9, and 7, the best way for our entire family to read together this summer is to listen to audiobooks on our road trips.  The Mouse and the Motorcycle was a selection on our library list and I thought it was a book the kids would enjoy.  I remember enjoying a teacher reading it to my class back in elementary school.  My husband Ben had not read the book before.

Ralph is a mouse living with his family on the second floor of an old hotel in California.  One day a middle size boy, Keith, and his family come to visit.  Keith can understand Ralph and is the best thing that has ever happened for Ralph as number one, he has a motorcycle that Ralph can drive around the hotel and two, he provides “room service” to the mice when he brings up food from his meals for the mice.  After Keith gets sick and his parents can’t get him any medicine, will Ralph be able to save the day?

The entire family enjoyed The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  Ben and I laughed at the very accurate descriptions of the messes different size children leave that would be tempting for mice.  Times have not changed in that regards since the book was written in 1965.  It was interesting though how when Keith got sick that in 1965 at night, there is no solution with no stores being open to obtain medicine.  While in my little town there are no 24-hour stores, I could drive 20 minutes and find one.  Also, they wanted to give Keith aspirin, which is now known to be something you don’t give kids as they could get the fatal Reye’s syndrome. Two children died in my small Michigan home town of Reye’s syndrome in the 1980s.

For the kids, they just really loved the adventure and mishaps of Ralph on his motorcycle.  I know there are two more books in the series and we may have to check them out!  I am hoping the kids don’t get any ideas about keeping a pet mouse now . . .

William Roberts was a great narrator and we all enjoyed his sounds effects for the motorcycle and the ambulance.  It was a fun book to listen to on our journey.

Overall, The Mouse and the Motorcycle was a good family audiobook to listen to on our long drive.  It was entertaining for both parents and our kids ages 7 to 12 with one girl and two boys.

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Title: Little House in the Big Woods

Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Read by: Cherry Jones with Pa’s Fiddle performed by Paul Woodiel

Publisher: Harper Children’s Audio

Length: Approximately 3 hours and 41 minutes

Source: Kewaunee Public Library

If you are a follower of this blog, you know that I LOVE Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Little House in the Big Woods was one of the choices for the Kewaunee Library family read this summer.  We picked up the audiobook for our trip last weekend to Iowa.  It had been eight years since I read it with my oldest and a couple of years since I read it with my youngest, so it felt like a good time to hear the story again.  For a review of the overall story, please refer to my 2011 review and 2016 review.

The audiobook was wonderful and enjoyable for the entire family.  Just like when he was 4 years old, 12-year-old Kile was most entranced by Pa and his stories.  He in particular hushed us during the chasing of Grandpa by the panther.  The boys feigned indifference to the book, but it was funny to see them engaging in the story as it progressed.  They were more engaged this time around then seven-year-old Penelope, but I believe that is because she had more recently read the story. 

I really enjoyed Cherry Jones as a narrator.  She had a soothing voice and she also provided different voices for the character.  My favorite part of this audiobook though was when Cherry Jones sang the songs and Paul Woodiel played the fiddle music for them.  It was wonderful.

Little House in the Big Woods is a classic and works great as an audiobook to listen to with the family and keep them entertained.  The boys loved Pa’s stories and Penelope loved the story of Laura.