Showing results by narrator "Christopher Gebauer" in All Categories

Eugene Guterman’s junior year in high school is off to a rocky start. No love life, no new theater production, and if his mother has her way, no more of his favorite comfort food—donuts. Eugene would just as soon spend the year playing small, but that’s hard to do when you’re the biggest kid in your class. Things change when he accidentally tackles the school’s star quarterback and Coach sees the possibilities and recruits the plus-size playwright onto the varsity football team. Eugene is suddenly catapulted into the world of the “The Pops,” the exclusive clique of popular athletes.

15-year-old Dylan has always felt like an outsider in his small town. Isolated when he was younger as the result of his unpredictable, now absent mother and feeling like a disappointment to his grandfather who has stepped in to raise him, Dylan finds relief in the woods behind his grandfather's auto shop. Amidst the cool quiet of the trees, Dylan thrives on bird watching and writing poetry. But one afternoon after spotting an injured hawk, Dylan finds himself pushing out of his comfort zone to track down help for the bird—and ends up rescuing a part of himself in the process.

Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, in the 1930s, Benjy Puterman and Tommy Anspach have always done everything together. It never mattered that Benjy was Jewish and Tommy was of German heritage. But as Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party come to power in Germany and war brews in Europe, everything changes. Tommy is sent to Camp Nordland, a Nazi youth camp for German Americans, where he quickly learns that Jews are the enemy.

Meet Little Hippo! Today he’s playing shopkeeper, pulling his wagon filled with treats throughout the jungle. He is determined to earn enough coins to buy someone a very special gift. On his journey—oh, no!—Shopkeeper Hippo is splashed by Giant Crocodile! SPLOOSH! Then, a giant gust of wind nearly blows him away. Whoosh! But when Shopkeeper Hippo meets a very hungry Lion who frightens him—yikes!—it looks like Little Hippo may not meet his goal. Will this little shopkeeper find the bravery to continue?

Welcome to the Woofmore, where the water bowls are always full and there’s kibble on every pillow! Rufus and his boss, Ms. Coco, work hard to make every guest at the Woofmore feel like a VIP (Very Important Pooch). It’s the grand opening of the hotel, and Rufus and Ms. Coco want everything to be pawfect. Especially for their VIP guest, movie star Greta Garbark. But how can Rufus keep the puparazzi from hounding Ms. Garbark? And what will Ms. Coco do when a (very itchy) problem hits the hotel?

Georgina watches me. She doesn’t try to poke me or pull my tail. She doesn’t push her face into mine, and she speaks very softly. “Welcome,” she says. Most shelter animals dream of going home with a forever family. But for Elvis, being chosen by Mrs. Pemberton is a nightmare. He’s been taken away from his sister, Etta, and is determined to get back to the shelter to find her.

Frank and Sunny’s humans are bringing home their nibling for a visit. But what exactly is a “nibling”? Frank says it’s a small bite of something, and Sunny thinks that sounds delicious. But then there is a knock on their door, and this nibling is a far cry from what they expected! Nelly has strong ideas about how to play and what constitutes fun, including a nauseating basket ride around the house and a mandatory play wedding—with costumes!—between Frank and Captain Keith, the parrot.

Famous spooky-story writer Silas Fang is coming to stay at the Woofmore! Mr. Fang spends all his time thinking about scary things, so he needs a vacation full of rainbows, unicorns, and bubbles. Rufus is happy to oblige. It should be easy—after all, the Woofmore is not haunted … or is it?

A talented cellist with a promising future, Jack daydreams about two things: leaving his isolated village of Massena, New York, to become a professional musician and kissing Emaline Durham—a Gentile girl he knows he can never be with. But when Emaline’s little sister, Daisy, disappears in Paradise Woods, a seething lie turns Jack’s world into a living nightmare.

Reef and Theo don't know what's happening to them. They'll be going about their days and then suddenly they'll have these strange flashes of memory—but the memories don't belong to them. And at the same time, their own memories are starting to... vanish. For Reef, this is a big problem, because memories are all he has left of his mom. For Theo, it's strange because the new memories give him a freedom he doesn't have with his domineering dad.