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Neil Gaiman Explores the World of Audiobooks for NPR Interviews David Sedaris and others

Neil Gaiman, the prolific, charming, hunky author and sometimes narrator of his own work on audio, offered up a wonderful love letter to the audiobook this morning [11/30/2009] on the "Open Mic" segment of NPR's Morning Edition. If you missed it, you can listen to the story online as well as hear extended segments not included in this morning's broadcast.

In the course of the piece, Gaiman speaks with author (and narrator of his own works) David Sedaris, veteran narrator Martin Jarvis, and Don Katz, founder of Audible.com. Sedaris, as usual, is hilarious in his send-up of the type of narrator that he doesn't much care for.

Gaiman asks if listening to audiobooks is the same thing as reading, and concludes that it's not. "An audiobook," he says, "is its own thing, a unique medium that goes in through the ear."

An aspect of the story to which I personally related was Gaiman's reminiscence of the audiobooks of his childhood, including the 1954 Caedmon recording of Dylan Thomas narrating Under Milkwood. Stuff like that loomed very large in my own childhood.

By the way, Playaway currently offers two Neil Gaiman titles: M is for Magic (narrated by the author) and Interworld (written with Michael Reaves and narrated by Christopher Evan Welch). And you'll find three more Gaiman books on Playaway, available from Recorded Books.

From David Sedaris, Playaway offers Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim and When You Are Engulfed in Flames, both narrated by the author.

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Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice 2009 National Book Award Winner

Competition is stiff for the National Book Awards.  Current classics are recognized and awarded for their literary excellence through which they achieve a certain level of immortality to their shelf life.  The 2009 finalists were impressive as usual and I can’t imagine the burden of selecting just one per category.  Still, I was pleased to hear that Claudette Colvin – Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose won for Young People’s Literature. 

The book retells the story of Claudette Colvin, the fifteen year-old African American girl who refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama months before Rosa Parks kick-started the Civil Rights Movement with that same rebellious act.  The NAACP considered making Claudette the poster-child for the Movement, using her case to help take other issues of inequality up to the Supreme Court.  In the end, her teenage pregnancy and social status made her less eligible for the job and 9 months after Claudette was dragged off the bus, Rosa Parks made a stand.  The courageous acts of that teenager were lost, overshadowed by what came next, making Claudette Colvin – Twice Toward Justice news to many of us who never learned about her in school.

After extensive interviews with Ms. Colvin, Hoose wove together an intimate portrait of a girl with the tumultuous backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement.  It’s not the first time Hoose has set out to teach history to kids through examples of kids in history.  His 2001 title, We Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History is a collection of true stories about kids and young adults (all 18 and under) who made an impact – a title which was, in a sense, the catalyst for his writings on Claudette. 

Channie Waites’s reading is crisp, providing a clear juxtaposition of the girl’s story and the world in which it’s set, and transitioning between a history lesson and a firsthand account of one person’s experience.  Her narration, while matter-of-fact on the details, takes on the personality of the cast when shifting into Claudette’s mind & words.  The character voices are wonderfully expressive, whisking the reader into the courthouse or the Colvins’ living room.  Rich with detail and historical fact, Claudette Colvin – Twice Toward Justice holds interest in and out of the classroom, across all ages. 

Also available on Playaway through Recorded Books, the 2009 National Book Award Winner for Fiction, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

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Posted by Caroline Duke
Playaway Content Development Coordinator

Playaway News Story Highlights Education & Audio Literacy

Nice local news story about Playaway over the weekend [Saturday 14 November, 2009]. One of the most interesting points was Jeff Williams, K-12 literacy coach for the Solon, OH school district, noting that, for many students, listening to an audiobook while following along with the text can be, "a powerful tool for developing fluency, vocabulary, story sense, comprehension, etc."

This echoes ideas expressed by Mary Burkey and other educators about the usefulness of audiobooks in developing and enhancing language fluency.  (See my earlier post on Mary's ideas.)

Another interesting point by Williams:  audiobook listening "is a literate behavior that literate adults participate in routinely — listening to a text while driving or traveling or just to relax is something that millions of Americans do, so why would we forbid students from doing so?" 

Indeed, in a world with ever-increasing volumes of information and ever-increasing time pressure, audiobook listening is arguably a life skill for every student to be taught and encouraged.

What are your thoughts about audiobooks and literacy?  Click below to leave your comment.

P.S. The news story was accompanied by the above photo.  In it, young master Thomas Metz (age 6) is listening to The Great Fire, the story of the Chicago fire of 1871, by Jim Murphy.  A Newbery Honor title and a YALSA Best Book, it's produced by Audio Bookshelf.

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Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy

Military Personnel Appreciate Playaway

Playaway is very popular with members of all four branches of the U.S. military.  Each month, by arrangement with the Department of Defense's Family Morale, Welfare, and Recreation program, we send approximately 16,000 Playaway units directly into the hands of troops in the field in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The titles selected range from literary classics and military reading list titles, to contemporary best-sellers, to Middle-Eastern language learning programs, to stress relief and relaxation.

Playaways are also available at no cost to families of enlisted military personnel through the Department of Defense's Military OneSource website.

For deployed troops, Playaway can seem like a godsend -- providing much-needed distraction, entertainment, education, and relaxation in environments where Internet access and even electricity are not givens.

So don't be surprised if returning service men and women and their loved ones come walking into your library already familiar with and enthusiastic about Playaway.

Meanwhile, Playaways are also becoming very popular on military base libraries around the world.  One of our favorite contacts is Sabrina Honda, of Hurlburt Field Air Force Base in Ft. Walton Beach, FL.  Sabrina was the 2006 recipient of the Special Library Association's "Federal Library Technician of the Year" award.  Here she is on Miltary OneSource's "TroopTube," starring as Commando Librarian, complete with cammo bookcart.  See her spring into action the moment she receives an "information distress call".  [Note the cameo appearance by the Playaway edition of The Kite Runner.]

  http://www.trooptube.tv/videos/1957

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Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy

Ayn Rand: I {heart} The Self

NPR's "Diane Rehm Show" had a great segment last week [10/28/2009] with Anne Heller, author of the new biography Ayn Rand and the World She Made (Nan A. Talese, KnopfDoubleday). Heller's book was published in print on October 27th. The Playaway version launches January 1, 2010.

Much of the discussion was about Atlas Shrugged, Rand's 1957 novel that's still a top-seller and still widely read more than 50 years after its publication - especially remarkable considering that it's over 1,000 pages in length.

In addition to Heller's book, a second Rand biography, Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right by Jennifer Burns (Oxford Press), was also released in October and has been receiving similarly positive reviews.  There's been a lot of talk lately about a resurgence of interest in Rand.  According to the Ayn Rand Institute, total sales of her books reached 25 million in 2008.  And according to Heller, combined sales of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are expected to top 2 million copies this year -- double the number sold last in 2009. 

There's likely to be still more interest to come when production is completed on a long-awaited film adaptation. Lionsgate acquired movie rights in 2006 and names like "Jolie" and "Pitt" were originally bandied about. More recently, Charlize Theron has been mentioned as a possible lead. IMDB lists the project as "announced" and "in production" for 2011.

Playaway offers an excellent unabridged edition of Atlas Shrugged from Blackstone Audio, narrated by the talented and prolific Scott Brick. It runs an impressive sixty-three and a half hours. If you're interested in a "just the good parts" version, we also offer an abridged version from HighBridge Audio, clocking in at a more manageable twelve hours. It's narrated by venerable actor of stage and screen, Edward Herrmann.

In all, there are currently thirteen Ayn Rand titles available on Playaway. View them here.

And In March of 2010 look for one more: Ayn Rand Answers. Drawn from Rand's taped lectures and question-and-answer sessions, the title promises to offer fresh insight into her views on such topics as racism, gun control, love, and marriage.

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Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy