Evaluating
Audiobooks
Selecting the Best for Children and Teens
ALA Annual 2009

Presenters and 2008 Odyssey Award Committee
Jerene Battisti, Education and Teen Services Coordinator, King County Library System, Issaquah,
WA
Mary Burkey, Library Media Specialist, Olentangy Local Schools, Columbus, OH
Francisca Goldsmith, Director of Branch Services at Halifax Public Libraries, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Natalie Hoyle, LMC Director, Spring Brook Elementary, Naperville, IL District 204
Teri Lesesne, Professor of Library Science, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX
Connie Rockman, Children's Literature Consultant, Stratford, CT
Sylvia Vardell, Professor of Library Science, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX
Also
Sharon Grover, Head of Youth Services, Hedberg Public Library, Janesville, WI
Merri Lindgren, Librarian, Cooperative Children's Book Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sue-Ellen Beauregard, Booklist, Chicago, IL

Why audiobooks? Listening…
•Increases fluency
•Expands listening skills
•Raises reading comprehension
•Enlarges vocabulary
•Boosts pronunciation skills
•Supports struggling readers
•Expands literary experience for proficient readers
•Improves test scores

Behind the Glass Booth
•Clean, crisp sound
•Periods of silence, range of dynamics
•Consistent volume levels
•Free of sibilant or plosive microphone pick-ups
•Limited off-mic voice, dry or juicy mouth, swallowing
•Sloppy production:
too loud or intense missing or repeated text
obvious dubbing abrupt or lengthy chapter breaks
•Packaging correctly notes
•title, author, and readers’ names
•accurate running times or notice of abridgement
•Readalongs
no mismatch between words, pictures, & sound effects
Page turn signals allow time to explore illustration, text

Audiobook Awards & Recognitions
•ALA’s Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production
Monday 3:30-5:30pm McCormick West W-470b
•YALSA’s Amazing Audiobooks
•ALSC’s Notable Children’s Recordings
•Booklist Magazine’s Voice of Choice
•Audio Publishers Association’s Audies Awards
•Grammy Awards for Spoken Word
•Publishers Weekly’s Listen Up Award
•AudioFile Magazine’s Golden Earphones
•AudioFile Magazine’s Golden Voices

Door to Cultures

Voice of Region

Earphone English

W s yslis ningisP
ho a te ASSIVE?

Who is the audience for this
audio?

What is your reaction to this clip?

Matching character to voicing

Voicing the character

Narrator Match

Considerations
 Quality
P c
a ing
P s
hra ing

Music

Music and Rhythm
 Old Bo J hns n
b o o  Be p
Bo

Your best resource?
 http ud b o r.b o to
://a io o ke o klis nline o /
.c m

Happy
Listening!