Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver, read by Ian McKellen. I am a huge, huge fan of this series, but I had never heard the audio recordings. I'd heard that they were fabulous... and they totally are! All the action and drama in the story are unleashed by Ian McKellen's great reading. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was delighted by the way he creates different tones and voices for each character. This is a great listen and I highly recommend it for families with middle school or older kids (or just for adults!).
Crash by Jerry Spinelli, read by Jeff Woodman. John "Crash" Coogan has always crashed through life. He's a jock and a bit of a jerk, caring more about clothing labels and sports than anything else, but his favorite pastime is making fun of his dweeby neighbor Penn Webb. Penn is a vegetarian and a pacifist and always seems to go against the grain. While Crash plays football, Penn tries out for the cheerleading team. But as seventh grade goes on, Crash just might find that he and Penn have more in common than he ever thought. I hate to designate anything as being "for boys" or "for girls", but this would be a great book for your reluctant readers. I think it's something middle school boys would definitely identify with and there are lots of items for discussion. It'd be a great book to read or listen to with the whole family and then discuss afterwards. Plus, it's funny and there are lots of sports.
This is what I've been listening to recently... how about you?
