Viva’s search for the silver buttons has her traveling all over New Orleans and the surrounding area, and if even half of the locations are real, then I need to take a trip.
Fun surprises scattered along the journey really made this story a lot of fun.
Viva Durant, New Orleans’ youngest detective, is on a quest to solve a jazzy mystery involving hidden treasure, while exploring the city’s unique culture, history, and music. This family-friendly audio original features original jazz music from the creator, Ashli St. Armant, and an enthusiastic performance from Audible Hall of Fame narrator, Bahni Turpin.
Plucky 14-year-old Viva Durant heads to New Orleans every summer to spend time with her loving but stern grandmother, known as Gram. After Gram reads Viva an article in the local paper about a missing treasure related to the world-famous song, “Miss Mary Mack,” Viva traverses the Crescent City on an epic adventure to solve the mystery. Along the way she meets some of the city’s most colorful characters as her journey takes her to the French Quarter, a jazz club, a creepy cemetery, and even the circus. Can Viva rise to the occasion and solve this musical mystery? Listeners will find Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons a joy to listen to!
When Viva Durant hears about a missing treasure linked to a set of silver buttons. She just has to follow the clues and see if she can find them. Her investigation takes her deep into the jazz history of New Orleans, and she has a chance to visit some pretty incredible places.
While she tries to keep her sleuthing a secret, she’s still a kid, so she ends up finding ways to get assistance in some pretty inventive ways. She never gives up, even when she seems to be facing a dead end, and her intelligence and persistence just might pay off.
This Audible Original title is a great listen for middle graders that love to solve puzzles.
A short and sweet audio novella that’ll leave listeners wanting second helpings, You Can Thank Me Later follows an unforgettable family over the course of three Thanksgivings.
When the Dickenson clan sits down for Thanksgiving dinner in 2016, it is the last holiday when their tight-knit family will ever be the same. Oldest brother Pete and his wife are expecting their first child. Youngest sibling Sophie is too busy running her restaurant, The Little Plum, to bother with any kind of social life. And middle child Charlie’s happy, uncomplicated life as a Midwestern science professor is upended when his wife Annette is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Knowing this will be her last Thanksgiving, Annette asks Sophie to look after Charlie after she’s gone. Which would be a lot easier if Charlie didn’t show up with an insufferable new girlfriend at the next holiday meal.
From the best-selling author of The Overdue Life of Amy Byler, this heartwarming novella embraces the spirit and gratitude of the holiday, and shows how a family’s love can endure anything.
You Can Thank Me Later by Kelly Harms is an Audible Original (only available there as of writing this). Sophie Dickenson is telling the story of several Thanksgiving dinners with her siblings – where is the chef and host (mostly). This is an interesting way to really capture how much can change over the course of a year. Each Thanksgiving there are changes, big and small and sometimes world-changing, that we get to glimpse as Sophie gets ready for and serves dinner.
At first I was a little hesitant about this whole concept of telling stories through Thanksgiving dinner – but Sophie won me over from the first minute when her voicemail greeting – it was a gem. And as I got to know a little about her siblings and their families through the messages they left, you could just her the love among them. But don’t worry, this isn’t a story told in voicemails, it was just enough to give me a small glimpse into who these people were before they all showed up to eat.
You Can Thank Me Later is a quick listen that really brings out all the feels. Be careful if you listen in the car, because you may tear up a few times – pull over if necessary.
Packed with superheroes, supervillains, and epic showdowns between good and evil, TheUnforgettable Logan Foster from debut author Shawn Peters shows that sometimes being a hero is just about being yourself.
Logan Foster has pretty much given up on the idea of ever being adopted. It could have something to with his awkward manner, his photographic memory, or his affection for reciting curious facts, but whatever the cause, Logan and his “PP’s” (prospective parents) have never clicked.
Then everything changes when Gil and Margie arrive. Although they aren’t exactly perfect themselves—Gil has the punniest sense of humor and Margie’s cooking would have anyone running for the hills—they genuinely seem to care.
But it doesn’t take Logan long to notice some very odd things about them. They are out at all hours, they never seem to eat, and there’s a part of the house that is protected by some pretty elaborate security.
No matter what Logan could have imagined, nothing prepared him for the truth: His PP’s are actually superheroes, and they’re being hunted down by dastardly forces. Logan’s found himself caught in the middle in a massive battle and the very fate of the world may hang in the balance. Will Logan be able to find a way to save the day and his new family?
My 10yo and I read The Unforgettable Logan Foster as part of the Owl Crate Jr book box. While he isn’t a reluctant reader – he is reluctant to try new authors or series. So we made a deal that he had to read one month’s book before he could open the next box. Once he started The Unforgettable Logan Foster, he had a hard time putting it down. Superheroes combined with a kid that is “different than the other kids, like I’m a little different, but in a different way than I’m different” really drew him into the story. Now he can’t wait for more in the series.
The other part of our deal was that I would read the book when he was done so we could talk about it. What I enjoyed most with the very untraditional family unit Logan found himself adopted into. Throw in a very untraditional neighborhood friend, and all the unusual types built a beautiful picture.
Throw in a fun adventure to defeat a super villain and his friends, and you have the makings for a great MG adventure. Some of the heroes reminded me a little of contemporary comic books with a fun and colorful twist. And with a few really great surprise reveals (I didn’t see them coming at all), I found the book hard to put down as well.
