Arts Podcasts

Librivox: Rocket Book, The by Newell, Peter show

Librivox: Rocket Book, The by Newell, PeterJoin Now to Follow

The Rocket Book can be listened to while viewing a beautiful facscimile edition at the International Children's Digital Libarary (ICDL): http://childrenslibrary.org/ The Rocket Book begins when the son of a building superintendent sets a match to a rocket he discovered in the basement. Suddenly, the rocket blasts its way up through apartment after apartment in a high-rise, disrupting and transforming the humdrum goings-on of twenty families till it is finally stopped cold by something in the attic. An elliptical hole is punched in each of the book's pages and illustrations to signify where the rocket passed through every apartment! As in all of Newell's books, the verse on the verso-page provides commentary on the recto-page illustration. This book and Newell’s The Slant Book pioneered the “special format” children’s literature of today, such as pop-up books or cutout books like Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Newell’s books from 80 years ago have been reprinted, since Newell has undergone a resurgence in popularity much as Dr. Seuss’s books did during the 1980s. This is a boon for teachers and home-schooling parents, since this recording can now be listened to as youngsters page through a real book (ISBN: 0-8048-0505-9) or as they view the ICDL scanned version online (both are a real treat)! (Summary by Denny Sayers)

By LibriVox

Librivox: Max und Moritz by Busch, Wilhelm show

Librivox: Max und Moritz by Busch, WilhelmJoin Now to Follow

Max und Moritz - Eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen (Erstveröffentlichung 4. April 1865) ist das wohl bekannteste Werk von Wilhelm Busch. Das Werk wird oft als Vorläufer der modernen Comics bezeichnet da die zahlreichen, von Busch selbst gezeichneten Bilder, in so enger Beziehung zu dem Text stehen. In Paarreimen erzählt die Geschichte von den bösartigen Streichen der zwei Buben Max und Moritz, deren Streiche sich hauptsächlich gegen Respektspersonen der damaligen Gesellschaft richten. Diese Geschichte ist für ein sehr junges sowohl als auch für ein Erwachsenes Publikum geeignet. Viele werden sich an diese Geschichte aus ihrer Kindheit liebevoll erinnern. (Zusammenfassung von Mikki)

By LibriVox

Librivox: Light Princess, The by MacDonald, George show

Librivox: Light Princess, The by MacDonald, GeorgeJoin Now to Follow

Plenty of princesses have been cursed by wicked witches, but the curse placed on this princess by her evil aunt is an unusual one: it removes all the princess's gravity. What can break the curse before the princess floats away? Perhaps the best thing for her would be to fall in love, but how a person with no gravity can fall in anything is just the problem. (summary by LauraFox)

By LibriVox

Librivox: Life: Poem XXI A Book by Dickinson, Emily show

Librivox: Life: Poem XXI A Book by Dickinson, EmilyJoin Now to Follow

Poem XXI: "A Book", read by the wonderful podcasters at the Podcasters Across Borders 2006 conference, in Kingston, Ontario, June 23-24, 2006. We didn't get all the podcasters so if you'd like to add your voice, send us an email!

By LibriVox

Librivox: Sky Island by Baum, L. Frank show

Librivox: Sky Island by Baum, L. FrankJoin Now to Follow

Sky Island (1912) was the second of three titles written by Baum featuring a spunky girl from California, Trot, and her companion, the old sailorman, Cap’n Bill. Baum had hoped to end the Oz series in 1910 and the following year he introduced Trot and Cap’n Bill in The Sea Fairies. In Sky Island, they journey to an island in the sky by means of an enchanted umbrella belonging to Button Bright, a character who first appeared in The Road to Oz (1909). The trio is then captured by the Boolaroo of the Blues, a monarch who is both comical and dangerous, escape to the country of the “Pinks”, and eventually regain the magic umbrella and return back to earth. This is one of Baum’s best fantasy books and contains enough not-so-veiled commentary on race and politics to interest adults as well. However, it (and The Sea Fairies) did not sell as well as the Oz books and Baum resumed writing them in 1913. He subsequently brought Trot and Cap’n Bill to Oz in 1915 in The Scarecrow of Oz. (Summary by Judy Bieber)

By LibriVox

Librivox: Candide by Voltaire (Arouet, François Marie) show

Librivox: Candide by Voltaire (Arouet, François Marie)Join Now to Follow

A sparkling 18th century satire by Voltaire

By LibriVox

Librivox: Max und Moritz (version 2) by Busch, Wilhelm show

Librivox: Max und Moritz (version 2) by Busch, WilhelmJoin Now to Follow

Max und Moritz - Eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen (Erstveröffentlichung 4. April 1865) ist das wohl bekannteste Werk von Wilhelm Busch. Das Werk wird oft als Vorläufer der modernen Comics bezeichnet da die zahlreichen, von Busch selbst gezeichneten Bilder, in so enger Beziehung zu dem Text stehen. In Paarreimen erzählt die Geschichte von den bösartigen Streichen der zwei Buben Max und Moritz, deren Streiche sich hauptsächlich gegen Respektspersonen der damaligen Gesellschaft richten. Diese Geschichte ist für ein sehr junges sowohl als auch für ein erwachsenes Publikum geeignet. Viele werden sich an diese Geschichte aus ihrer Kindheit liebevoll erinnern.

By LibriVox

Librivox: Bildergeschichten by Busch, Wilhelm show

Librivox: Bildergeschichten by Busch, WilhelmJoin Now to Follow

Wilhelm Busch war einer der bedeutendsten humoristischen Zeichner und Dichter Deutschlands. Er gilt wegen seiner satirischen Bildergeschichten (u.a. Max und Moritz) in Versen als einer der Urväter des Comics. (Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia)

By LibriVox

Librivox: Man Who Knew Too Much, The by Chesterton, G. K. show

Librivox: Man Who Knew Too Much, The by Chesterton, G. K.Join Now to Follow

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was an influential and prolific English writer of the early 20th century. He was a journalist, a poet and a novelist. He wrote 80 books and 200 short stories in addition to his other work. He is perhaps best remembered for his ‘Father Brown’ stories; two collections of which are available at Librivox.org. ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ has some similarities to the Father Brown stories: Horne Fisher the eponymous hero is connected and indeed related to many of the high-ranking politicians of his age and thus ‘knows too much’ about the background of the mysteries in which he becomes embroiled and which he unravels. (Summary by Martin Clifton)

By LibriVox

Librivox: Struwwelpeter, Der (version 2) by Hoffmann, Heinrich show

Librivox: Struwwelpeter, Der (version 2) by Hoffmann, HeinrichJoin Now to Follow

Der Struwwelpeter, zuerst erschienen als “Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder mit 15 schön kolorierten Tafeln für Kinder von 3-6 Jahren”, wurde 1845 von Heinrich Hoffmann als ein Kinderbuch für seine eigene Familie geschrieben. Es wurde als eine illustrierte Sammlung von Kindergeschichten sehr bekannt durch seine erste englische Übersetzung im Jahre 1848. Das Buch wird oft als brutal angesehen, da die Kinder in den Geschichten nicht notwendigerweise gut behandelt werden. Trotzdem hatte es einen Einfluß auf spätere Literatur. (Summary by Aldark and Rainer)

By LibriVox