Publisher Description
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.
Download and start listening now!
"I loved how the poems were written to be read aloud by two voices. It gives the feeling of being with the "swarm" or group of insects as they move about their lives. Interesting perspectives between the different insects included in the book. Newbery Medal book. Reading orally with two people is like a dance of words."
—
Shelley (4 out of 5 stars)
About Paul Fleischman
Paul Fleischman has written more than twenty-five books for children and young adults. He received a Newbery Medal for Joyful Noise and a Newbery Honor for Graven Images. His novel Whirligig was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Booklist. His Breakout was a finalist for the National Book Award.
About the Narrators
Barbara Caruso, winner of numerous Earphones Awards for narration, is an accomplished actress. A graduate of London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she was a featured player in the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has played starring roles on Broadway and in theaters across the country. She won the Alexander Scourby Reader of the Year Award for her performances of young adult fiction and has more than one hundred audiobook narrations to her credit.
John McDonough, one of AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voices, has narrated dozens of audiobooks, and won eleven Earphones Awards. He is known for his narrations of children’s books, including Robert McCloskey’s Centerburg Tales and Albert Marrin’s Commander-in-Chief Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Outside of his audiobook work, he has starred in a revival of Captain Kangaroo on the Fox Network.
Christina Moore is an actress and Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator. As an actress, she is best known for her roles in the television series That ’70s Show, Hawthorne, and 90210. She is a founding member of Bitches Funny, an all-female sketch group that has performed in New York City and Los Angeles.
Jeff Woodman is an actor and narrator. He is a winner of the prestigious Audie Award and a six-time finalist. He has received twenty Earphones Awards and was named the 2008 Best Voice in Fiction & Classics, as well as one of the Fifty Greatest Voices of the Century by AudioFile magazine. As an actor, he originated the title role in Tennessee Williams’ The Notebook of Trigorin and won the S. F. Critics’ Circle Award for his performance in An Ideal Husband. In addition to numerous theater credits on and off Broadway, his television work includes Sex and the City, Law & Order, and Cosby.