3 FREE Audiobooks from Random House Audio

SFFaudio News

Random House Audio - 3 Free AudiobooksRandom House Audio is offering three FREE audiobooks to folks who subscribe to their monthly newsletter. HERE is the link to the website where you can sign up. An email confirming your subscription will include a link to where you can download all three audiobooks. All three are in the MP3 format. The audiobooks are:

Merrano Of The Dry Country Approx. 58 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA] Based on the story by Louis L’Amour
The master storyteller once again brings the Old West to life in this action-packed, full cast dramatization. Violence and prejudice are brewing in the drought-stricken land of Mirror Valley, where death turns friends into enemies and enemies into friends. From 1990.

Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House, No. 1) by Mary Pope Osborne – Approx. 39 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Where did the tree house come from? Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them back to the prehistoric past. Now they have to figure out how to get home. Can they do it before dark, or will they become a dinosaur’s dinner? From 1992.

Percy Jackson And The Sword of Hades by Rick Riordan – Approx. 77 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
First published in a back to back paperbook version for World Book Day in the UK. This short novella takes place between Books 4 and 5 of the Percy Jackson series. As far as I can tell this is its fist audiobook release.

[via Mary Burkey’s Audiobook Blog]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Magic Tree House Collection by Mary Pope Osborne

SFFaudio Audiobook Review

Audiobook - The Magic Tree House Collection, read by Mary Pope OsbourneThe Magic Tree House Collection
By Mary Pope Osborne; Read by Mary Pope Osborne
5 CDs – 5 Hours 40 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: 2001
ISBN: 0807206121
Themes: / Fantasy / Children’s Fantasy / Time Travel / Magic / Dragons / Knights / Pirates / Prehistoric /

This delightful children’s fantasy series features Jack and Annie. They’re siblings that find a tree house full of books. By opening the books the children are transported across time and space. This collection contains the first eight books of this popular kids series. In each book the children find themselves going to a different place. The books contained in this audiobook are:

1. Dinosaurs Before Dark
2. The Knight at Dawn
3. Mummies in the Morning
4. Pirates Past Noon
5. Night of the Ninjas
6. Afternoon on the Amazon
7. Sunset of the Sabertooth
8. Midnight on the Moon

Each book’s setting contains the tropes you’d expect to find. So in Pirates Past Noon, for instance, you have pirates, sailing ships, booty and treasure maps. There are story arc’s that stretches over a number of the books. The first concerns—who is the owner of the Magic Tree House.

Mary Pope Osbourne does a wonderful job of narration. Her pacing is excellent and her voice characterization are right on the mark. She has a gentle, soothing voice that children will love.

If you know or have a young person, of about five to ten years old, that you want to turn on to audiobooks, this audio collection is a perfect introduction. For my eight year old, we used it as part of our bedtime story ritual. I’ve bought the books so we can read along some nights. Other nights we take turns reading the books out loud.