Audiobooks by Paul Fleischman

Whirligig

New to town, Brent Bishop longs to stroll around school with the popular Brianna on his arm. But when Brianna begs him at a party full of schoolmates to stop hounding her, Brent's hopes are shattered. Trying to escape his humiliation, he attempts to destroy himself in a car crash-and ends up killing Lea, an innocent teen unfortunate enough to cross his path. Lea's mother asks one thing of Brent: that he create four whirligigs from a picture of Lea and set them up at the four corners of the United States. Lea's mother believes that by spreading the joy that whirligigs gave Lea as a child, Brent will keep Lea's spirit alive. And so Brent goes off with an unlimited bus ticket and the tools he needs to memorialize Lea. On his journey, he rediscovers his own love of life, and he begins to realize how-like the pieces that form the intricate whirligigs-people come together to affect each other in surprising ways. This is a story of a young soul's journey of self-discovery and ultimately one of hope and promise, from Newbery Medal winner Paul Fleischman. Recommended for Grades 7 and up.

Paul Fleischman (Author), Lily Christian, Robert Field (Narrator)

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No Map, Great Trip: A Young Writer's Road to Page One

Newbery Medalist Paul Fleischman reflects on his childhood with his award-winning father, Sid Fleischman, and details his own path to becoming a writer in this memorable book that is part memoir, part travelogue, and part reflection on craft and creativity. No Map, Great Trip is an excellent choice for aspiring authors, language arts classrooms, and fans of Gail Carson Levine's Writing Magic. Acclaimed author Paul Fleischman considers how growing up with a father who was an award-winning author helped to shape and inspire his own career. Paul and Sid Fleischman are the only father-son Newbery Medalists in history, and life in the Fleischman home was extraordinary. Readers will feel like part of the family in this humorous and aspirational chronicle. Paul Fleischman is the author of the Newbery Award-winning Joyful Noise and the classroom classic Seedfolks, as well as many other acclaimed and beloved titles. His books are taught and performed in classrooms across the country. Part memoir, part travelogue (young Paul travels from California to New Hampshire by himself), part writing book, and part reflection on art and creativity, this inspirational book includes black-and-white photographs, as well as writing tips and prompts just right for budding authors. No Map, Great Trip is a great gift for young writers, language arts teachers, and fans of Jack Prelutsky's Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry and Ralph Fletcher's A Writer's Notebook.

Paul Fleischman (Author), Andrew Eiden (Narrator)

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Half-A-Moon Inn

Long ago in a land by the sea, 12-year-old Aaron lives with his mother in the wooded countryside. Because the boy is mute, he depends on his mother completely. But when a sudden blizzard strands his mother in a distant town, Aaron finds himself alone for the first time in his life. Setting out in the snow to look for his mother, the boy embarks on a perilous, silent journey that will carry him to the eerie Half-A-Moon Inn. There, held captive by the sharp-eyed Miss Grackle, Aaron will discover her wicked powers-ones that Aaron must destroy if he is ever to see his mother again. Paul Fleischman, an award-winning author of children's books, writes stories that capture the attention of even the most reluctant readers. Throughout Aaron's exciting adventure, The Half-A-Moon Inn fills with the sights and sounds of a magical, medieval world.

Paul Fleischman (Author), Steven Crossley (Narrator)

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Bull Run

Sixteen voices are skillfully woven together here-not the heroes, not those who would become eulogized in history books and synonymous with the glory of war. No, these are the voices of the common soldiers and their leaders, their families, their comrades. North/south, white/black, adult/child-a disparate and compelling choir of voices. Newbery Medal-winner Paul Fleischman has written a tour de force that lends itself perfectly to multivoiced narration. From eager eleven-year-old Toby Boyce to Colonel Oliver Brattle, they've seen it all and know the true face of war-creating an intimate tapestry of naiveté, broken dreams and carnage that transports the listener to the front lines of the Battle of Bull Run. Paul Fleischman makes an appearance as the voice of James Dacy and concludes this unique production with a personal author's note-allowing us to glimpse into his beginnings as a writer, as well as how Bull Run came to be written. Recommended for Grades 5 and up.

Paul Fleischman (Author), A Full Cast, Various (Narrator)

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Joyful Noise and I Am Phoenix

Joyful Noise Written to be read aloud by two voices, sometimes alternating, sometimes simultaneous -- here is a recording of irresistible poems that celebrate the insect world, from the short life of the mayfly to the love song of the book louse. Funny, sad, loud and quiet, each of these poems resounds with a booming, boisterous, joyful noise. Winner of the 1989 Newbery Medal. I Am Pheonix I Am Phoenix is an exultant celebration of the sounds and essence of the bird world. A companion to Joyful Noise, written to be spoken aloud by two voices and masterfully performed by Lloyd and Twomey, these poems perfectly capture the beauty of birds in their singing, soaring and rejoicing. Performed by John Bedford and Anne Twomey

Paul Fleischman (Author), Anne Twomey, John Bedford Lloyd, John Lloyd (Narrator)

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A Fate Totally Worse Than Death

Welcome to Cliffside High, the school of your nightmares. It's run by the Huns, a ruthless clique of rich students-and, as poor Charity Chase discovers, messing with them can be murder. There's Tiffany, avid reader of every beauty magazine available; Brooke, desperate for a date; Danielle, Al Capone in Miss America's body, with her sights set firmly on millionaire's son Drew. Unfortunately, like every other boy at Cliffside, Drew only has eyes for Helga, the ravishing new student from Norway ... wherever that may be. As far as Danielle is concerned, Helga could be from another world. In fact, if she doesn't lay off Drew-she just might be. Getting rid of her ought to be as easy as taking candy off a helpless old lady. Only something weird is happening to Danielle and her friends, something much nastier than the horror stories she loves to read, something that can only be described as a fate totally worse than death. "The versatile Newbery Medalist sets off on a different-and wacky-tack with this spoof of young adult horror novels. Lavishly dosed with comic hyperbole, his plot is good for some chuckles...Fleischman's take-off is clever."-Publishers Weekly

Paul Fleischman (Author), Monica Willey (Narrator)

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Joyful Noise

Grasshoppers, waterstriders, and fireflies light up the pages of this rib-tickling book of poetry for two voices. Written as spirited duets, the poems ring with the love songs of book lice, the serenades of moths, and a choir of cicadas. Each one is a treat, filled with busy insect life. In addition to the voices of these frisky critters, there are also fascinating tidbits about their lives and habits. The digger wasp lays eggs underground, musing that it will never see their generation. Joyful Noise is a marvelous concoction of music and imagery, sound and sense, brilliantly narrated by four of Recorded Books, Inc.'s most gifted readers. Paul Fleischman, an award-winning author of children's books, has received critical acclaim for this collection of poems. Joyful Noise is an ALA Notable Children's Book, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and a Newbery Medal Winner. It won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction/Poetry, it was selected for The Horn Book Fanfare Honor List, and was designated a Notable Children's Trade Book in the Language Arts by the NCTE.

Paul Fleischman (Author), Barbara Caruso, Christina Moore, Jeff Woodman, John McDonough (Narrator)

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I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices

This collection of short poems from Newbery Award-winning author Paul Fleischman delightfully celebrates the essence of birds. The companion to Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, its poems feature two voices speaking sometimes together and sometimes in turn. Experience the magic and magnificence of the immortal phoenix. Enjoy the fluttering elation of finches at dawn and the swiftness of swallows at dusk. And empathize with the loneliness of the last passenger pigeon in the Cincinnati Zoo. The musical voices of five excellent narrators perform these poems in harmonies and cadences as pleasing as birdsong. Their voices capture the melodic, rejoicing, soaring freedom of the beautiful aviary kingdom and, occasionally, its loneliness and despair at being exploited by the human race.

Paul Fleischman (Author), Carine Montbertrand, John McDonough, Richard Poe, Robert Ramirez, Ruth Ann Phimister (Narrator)

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Joyful Noise/I Am a Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices

Paul Fleischman is a master of sound, incorporating a soaring, energetic musicality into his writing. His poems for two voices-Joyful Noise and I Am Phoenix-make for irresistable listening. Whether funny, sad, boisterous, or serene, each poem is a virtuoso performance-skillfully illuminating a unique personality from the natural world.

Paul Fleischman (Author), Melissa Hughes, Scott Snively (Narrator)

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Graven Images

Paul Fleischman spins three engrossing stories about the unexpected ways an artist's creations reveal truths - tales whose intriguing plots and many moods will entertain readers and inspire future writers. Can wood, copper, or marble communicate? They can if they are the graven images in Newbery Medalist Paul Fleischman's trio of eerie, beguiling short stories. If you whisper a secret into a wooden statue's ear, will anyone find out? Can a wobbly weathervane bearing the image of Saint Crispin, the patron saint of shoemakers, steer a love-struck apprentice toward the girl of his dreams? And if a ghost hires a sculptor to carve a likeness of him holding a drink to a baby's lips, what ghastly crime might lie behind his request? And, in a brand-new afterword, the acclaimed storyteller reveals how he found his own author's voice.

Paul Fleischman (Author), Lincoln Hoppe, Paul Michael, Susan Denaker (Narrator)

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Saturnalia

It is December 1681, and the words of Mr. Baggot, the tithingman, terrify young William. William is living a strange double life. By day he is a printer’s apprentice living in a white man’s house. By night, he is Weetasket of the Narraganset tribe who must risk Baggot’s wrath to search for his lost brother. Then comes the winter celebration of the Saturnalia—the ancient Roman holiday on which masters and slaves trade roles. Will William’s secrets be revealed? And what dark deeds of others will be brought to light on this fateful night? “Delightful…Fleischman’s entertaining caricatures of such colonists as the piggish wigmaker and his devious, brazen manservant will bring many chuckles as the plot moves seriously through one narrow escape from danger after another. Readers enjoying a challenge will read straight through this short book and learn of prejudice in colonial life as well as bravery and character.”—Children’s Literature

Paul Fleischman (Author), Charlie Thurston (Narrator)

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The Borning Room

Mothers give birth in the borning room. The dying take their departure there. Outside the Lott family’s Ohio farmhouse, the Civil War rages, slavery falls, and the world marvels at the wonder of electricity. Inside, within the walls of the borning room, Georgina Lott will experience her life’s greatest turnings. Across the years, she discovers womanhood and first love, experiences the mourning that comes with loss, and, as did her mother and grandmother, at last takes her place in the room as another precious life is about to begin. “Lush with similes, metaphors, and allusions so subtly woven into the mesh of the narrative that they enrich without distracting. A memorable novel, rich and resonant in familial love and the strength of connection and tradition.”—School Library Journal

Paul Fleischman (Author), Jeanine Kane (Narrator)

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