About a year ago, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a donation from the Marlinton Lions Club for audio books. As you may know, the Lions Club is an international organization focused on sight conservation, and they work tirelessly to help those with vision problems. This is why they prefer to have me purchase audio books. Well, they’ve done it again! I received another donation with the request that I purchase audio books, and I was thrilled to do so. Last time I ordered children’s books on CD that the whole family might enjoy; those were so popular, that I decided a few new titles would be welcome. I’m excited to say that I found a series of books by Gary Paulsen in audio format that are sure to hold everyone’s attention. The first book is Hatchet, the story of 13-year-old Brian Robeson who is on his way to visit his father when the single-engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Brian survives, but finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with only a windbreaker and the hatchet his mother gave him as a gift. Brian must focus all his skills and knowledge on surviving in the wilderness until help arrives – will he have the courage to last until then? There are three more stories about Brian, all equally compelling. Paulson takes Brian’s story and revisits his survival adventure in various ways. In Brian’s Winter, the author decides to examine what would happen if Brian had not been rescued at the end of Hatchet, but instead had to spend the winter in the wilderness? The River takes place two years after Brian is rescued. The government wants him to go back into the wilderness to demonstrate his survival skills for the military and astronauts to use. This time he has a companion, a psychologist named Derek Holtzer, but during a freak storm, Derek is hit by lightning and falls into a coma. It’s up to Brian to get him to safety. The fourth book is Brian’s Return, and we find Brian feeling uncomfortable in civilization and longing for the wilderness where he feels most at home. Will Brian go back and live the dream? Where does he really belong? I also added two Newbery winning books to our audio collection: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. Shiloh tells the story of a beagle in trouble, and the 11-year-old boy who would save him. The story takes place in Friendly, West Virginia, and is a very moving story about courage and love. A Wrinkle in Time is a thrilling story of three children, a strange visitor, a dark and stormy night – and a tesseract. If you don’t know what that is, you’ll just have to listen to the book to find out! So if you have some holiday travel time ahead of you, consider listening to books while you travel. We have a good selection of titles that the whole family can enjoy, thanks to our local Lions Club.
