Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

Your tweets + Cabot = collaborative storytelling. BBC Audiobooks America’s first Twitter audiobook, Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry, was kicked off by Neil Gaiman, completed by the Twitterverse, and narrated by Katherine Kellgren. You can download the audiobook for free on the BBCAA web site or from iTunes. BBCAA’s new venture into the Twittersphere will take place Feb. 16.  I will totally have my thumbs at the ready on my cell phone keyboard – I can’t wait to see how Meg Cabot kicks off this fantastic project. Be sure to spread the word to the teen & tween audiobook fans in your life! Here are the details from BBC Audiobooks America:

You can write an original audiobook story on Twitter with #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Meg Cabot Starting February 16 at Noon EST, Meg Cabot (@megcabot) will launch a special round-robin interactive storytelling experience. She’ll tweet the first line of the story and then the rest is up to you! Just login to your Twitter account (registration is free) to tweet your own suggested sentence to continue the tale.    How Does it Work? Read the opening line of the story tweeted by Meg and follow us at http://www.twitter.com/BBCAA to tweet the possible next sentence of the story (tweets must be 140 characters or less) like this:@BBCAA Your Tweet Here #bbcawdio We’ll read all of the suggested lines and retweet the ones that best continue the story in real time. This special choose-your-own-adventure style story will also be chronicled here on our blog daily as the story unfolds with its myriad twists and turns created by YOU! What Happens Next? When our story winds down, we’ll edit the contributions and compile a script, then head into the studio to record and produce the audiobook. The final audiobook will be downloadable free on our website and also available as a digital download at iTunes and other audiobook retailers. (Please see our legal release for further rules and information.) About Meg Cabot Meg Cabot is the is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty-five series and books for both adults and tweens/teens, selling more than fifteen million copies worldwide. Her upcoming release is Runaway, the third novel in her Airhead series for Young Adults with Scholastic Books. Among her titles are The Princess Diaries, Jinx, Size 12 is Not Fat, and Queen of Babble. She lives in Key West. Visit her blog at www.megcabot.com. Stay tuned to this blog and our Twitter page (@BBCAA) for updates, news, giveaways and more!

Michael J Fox & Buck Howdy took home the audiobook gold at the 2010 Grammy Awards last night. Here’s the complete list of winners and nominees, noting the title, narrator, and publisher.

And don’t forget to take the survey Audiobooks as a Physical Format: Dead or Alive?

Spoken Word for Adults:

WINNER:
Always Looking Up
Michael J. Fox
[Hyperion Audio]

NOMINEES:

Jonathan Winters – A Very Special Time
Jonathan Winters (Music By Verne Langdon & Skip Edwards)
[Dejavu Record Company/The Orchard]

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Richard Dreyfuss & David Strathairn
[BBC Audiobooks America]

The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett)
Various Artists Including Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh, Edward Herrmann & OthersYuri Rasovsky & Josh Stanton, producers
[Blackstone Audio Inc.]

We Can Have Peace In The Holy Land
Jimmy Carter
[Simon & Schuster Audio]

Wishful Drinking
Carrie Fisher
[Simon & Schuster Audio]

Spoken Word for Children:

WINNER:
Aaaaah! Spooky, Scary Stories & Songs
Buck Howdy
[Prairie Dog Entertainment]

NOMINEES:
Captain Nobody
Dean Pitchford
[Random House Audio/Listening Library]

Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales
(Various Artists including Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johannson, Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker & others)
Sharon Gelman, Michele McGonigle & Alfre Woodard, producers
[Hachette Audio]

The Phantom Tollbooth
David Hyde Pierce
[Harper Children's Audio]

Scat
Ed Asner
[Random House Audio/Listening Library]

Through The Looking-Glass And What Alice Found There
Harlan Ellison
[Blackstone Audio Inc.]

Audiobooks as a physical format: dead or alive? BookScan reports a 19% drop in the purchase of audiobooks in 2009. A recent Publishers Weekly article by Jim Milliot showed that physical sales of audiobooks took a hard hit, while print format sales had only a mild drop in the poor economic climate. Was this a true decline in audiobook listening or simply a reflection of the shift from purchasing audiobooks as CDs, MP3 disc, Playaways, or cassettes (yes, they do still exist)?  I’m curious about the shift from physical to digital for audiobook listeners. Take a moment to answer the survey below – look for the answers at the end of next week!

Advocate for audiobooks! Writers who love the spoken word are invited to lead their support of the audiobook publishing community. Here’s the details from the Audio Publishers Association:

June is Audiobook Month: Author Advocate Initiative
Tapping into the already broad pool of authors who love audiobooks, the APA Communications Committee is launching a widespread media initiative leading up to and throughout the month of June. By recruiting authors as “advocates” for increasing audiobook awareness, we feel we can make a tremendous impact by uniting these authors to share their positive endorsements of the audio format with their tremendous fan bases.

This initiative will have two goals:
* Increase media coverage of audio throughout the spring leading up to June.
* Execute a June 1st social media campaign in which authors and narrators will discuss their experiences with audiobooks on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and other various social networking websites.

Monday, February 8th is the deadline to be included in our official press release and initial pitch to long-lead media. We welcome any and all interested authors up through June who will be added to the list and worked into the campaign, so please continue to submit them as they signal interest.

How to Submit:
* Send an email to Kaitlin Friedmann at kfriedmann@audiopub.org with a list of authors who have agreed to participate.
* Please specify the author’s social media activity, including number of followers/fans they reach, as well as their upcoming titles this year. Also note any author events and interviews that can be tailored for Audiobook Month publicity, as well as website and blog information.

The Communications Committee will select 3-5 main Author Advocates for the spring media campaign launching mid-February.
The main Advocates are our important “faces” with the media, but just as important are our Advocates who will type, text and blog to get the word out about audio on June 1st. All it takes is a simple Tweet—just think of the hundreds of thousands of people we can reach this way! More details on this part of the initiative will be added to the APA website in February.

NASA’s Puffin personal flying suit brings the Jetsons to life!

Broadcasting in Haitian Creole, Faith Comes by Hearing spreads the Christian scripture through a solar-powered unit called The Proclaimer, capable of 400 languages. Read more on FOXNews.com about this project in Haiti.

Thanks SDN, for the link

Tales from the Slush Pile by Ed Briant in Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf newsletter

Those generously donating their skills in Haiti may download Pimsleur Audio Haitian Creole learning courses for FREE here http://bit.ly/4MB2Ls. This wonderful effort is through Simon & Schuster, who is generously donating the courses available as download to support the Haitian Relief Effort! What a marvelous use of audiobook technology.

I’m still thrilled about the Youth Media Awards announcements yesterday morning – especially the Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production. This year’s Odyssey roster has an interesting theme of multiplicity: Odyssey winner Live Oak Media gathered its second gold medal for Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken, Listen & Live Audio now has three Odyssey Honors for the Bloody Jack series with In the Belly of the Bloodhound the 2010 honoree, and Brilliance Audio is a double honor recipient this year for Peace, Locomotion and We Are the Ship. Kudos to Odyssey chair Sharon Grover and her stalwart crew of  committee members for their countless hours under the headphones. Now I’m waiting for the ALA youth audiobook selection lists Notable Children’s Recordings and Amazing Audiobooks to be posted on their websites. What a great year of listening to children’s & YA literature! Here’s the complete ALA press release about the Odyssey Award:

2010 Odyssey Award Audiobook

Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken, produced by Live Oak Media, written by Kate DiCamillo, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat

Louise, a French chicken with wanderlust, finds adventure in Kate DiCamillo’s comical picture book. Whimsical sound effects, playful background music and Barbara Rosenblat’s impressive repertoire of voices combine in this tour-de-force listening experience.

“These productions showcase the talents of three extraordinary narrators, who craft a diverse range of voices and characters appealing to a wide variety of ages,” said Odyssey Award Committee Chair Sharon Grover.
2010 Honor Audiobooks

In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber, written by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren, produced by Listen & Live Audio, Inc.

Katherine Kellgren pulls out all the vocal stops, singing and spinning yarns in her dynamic reading of L.A. Meyer’s fourth dramatic Bloody Jack escapade.

Peace, Locomotion, written by Jacqueline Woodson, narrated by Dion Graham, produced by Brilliance Audio.

Through Dion Graham’s heartfelt performance, Lonnie Collins shares hopes for peace in letters to his beloved sister, heightening the lyrical narrative of Jacqueline Woodson’s story.

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, written by Kadir Nelson, narrated by Dion Graham, produced by Brilliance Audio.

Bluesy harmonica music introduces Dion Graham’s smooth baritone voice, eloquently returning listeners to the era of Negro League baseball in Kadir Nelson’s award-winning book.

Thanks, OverDrive, for posting the answer on your blog to my request for youth stats on my post highlighting the top 2009 audiobook & eBook downloads for adults!

Here are the top 2009 audiobooks & eBooks for children & teens, downloaded from public library websites:

Most Downloaded Juvenile Fiction Audiobooks from the Library (2009)
(Title, Author, Publisher)
1. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer, Listening Library
2. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer, Listening Library
3. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer, Listening Library
4. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer, Listening Library
5. Brisingr, Christopher Paolini, Listening Library

Most Downloaded Juvenile Fiction eBooks from the Library (2009)
(Title, Author, Publisher)
1. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
2. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
3. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
4. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
5. The Angel Experiment, James Patterson, Orbit

Most Downloaded Juvenile Nonfiction Audiobooks from the Library (2009)
(Title, Author, Publisher)
1. Night, Elie Wiesel, Audio Bookshelf,LLC
2. VocabuLearn Spanish Word Booster, Penton Overseas, Inc., Penton Overseas, Inc.
3. Hear-SayTM Spanish, Penton Overseas, Inc., Donald S. Rivera
4. Amelia Earhart, Books In Motion, Lori Van Pelt
5. Blizzard!, Jim Murphy, Audio Bookshelf,LLC

Most Downloaded Juvenile Nonfiction eBooks from the Library (2009)
(Title, Author, Publisher)
1. Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson, Penguin USA, Inc.
2. 1,001 Facts About Dinosaurs, Neil Clark, Dorling Kindersley Limited
3. After School Reading Activities: Grade 1, School Specialty Publishing, School Specialty Publishing
4. After School Reading Activities: Grade 2, School Specialty Publishing, School Specialty Publishing
5. After School Reading Activities: Grade 3, School Specialty Publishing, School Specialty Publishing