books 2016: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Audio CD), by L. Frank Baum

My daughter is mad for stories these days, and so we've turned to audiobooks for car rides. This one seemed a natural choice, as I've been telling her the story of the Wizard of Oz (aka "Dorothy story") for months, and this was the version available at our library. I thought Liza Ross did an admirable job of reading it, especially since it includes conversations with four different voices. The only annoyance for me was Ross's voice for Dorothy, which being high-pitched was actually was louder than the other voices and Ross's own natural reading voice. This made it very difficult to modulate the volume in the car, particularly when trying to encourage someone small into perhaps falling asleep. But overall, listening to this was really enjoyable except when trying to deal with traffic.

Finished this on or around January 1, when we drove to New Jersey to go to the Garden State Discovery Museum.

books 2016: Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie

I don't know how I got away with being a Christie fan but not reading this before. The twist at the end was truly unexpected, and I loved it.

books 2016: The Sleeper and the Spindle, by Neil Gaiman

The art here is incredibly beautiful. I like how Gaiman's given a heroine from another story the chance to do something new. I appreciated the twist on Sleeping Beauty, also.

books 2016: Sita's Ramayana, by Samhita Arni (Text), Moyna Chitrakar (Illustrator)

Written and illustrated by Indian women, Sita's Ramayana takes as its goal to tell the story of the Ramayana from Sita's perspective. The art in particular is compelling, done in the Patua scroll painting style from West Bengal, and the words were written to accompany the art. I think it's a stunning accomplishment. I thought that if anything could make me like, understand, or at least appreciate the Ramayana, this would be it, but I'm still just not on board with Rama as a hero. But this retelling does focus on the impact of how Rama handles the situation, including the horrors of war and the irrevocable effects on Sita's life. I'm glad I read this.

An interesting account of how this text came to be is on the publisher's blog.

books 2016: Elmer and the Dragon, by Ruth Stiles Gannett

What a gem this is - I can't believe I didn't know about this as a child. The language is simple; the story innocent but compelling. A perfect first "chapter book" to read aloud to a child at bedtime.

books 2016: Three Tales of My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

This audio collection was perfect to listen to in the car. It didn't matter that we were reading Elmer and the Dragon at bedtime while simultaneously listening to this when we were on the go; my daughter was enchanted by both. I admit I didn't get to hear every word of all three stories (because my husband and daughter spend more time in the car together than I do) but this is now on my iPod, so I expect we'll be enjoying it again and again. Excellent narrator, too.