The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production is presented to the producer of the best audiobook produced for youth available in English in the United States. The award is jointly given and administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), divisions of ALA, and is sponsored by Booklist.

2010 Winner

LOUISE, THE ADVENTURES OF A CHICKEN
written by Kate DiCamillo
narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
Live Oak Media
ISBN: 9781430106883
Ages 4-8
June 2009

She longed for adventure. So she left her home and ventured out into the wide world. The pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful: marauding pirates on the majestic seas, a ferocious lion under the bright lights of the big top, a mysterious stranger in an exotic and bustling bazaar. Yet in the face of such daunting danger, our heroine…

She was brave. She was fearless. She was feathered. She was a chicken. A not-so-chicken chicken. Her name?

2010 Honors

IN THE BELLY OF THE BLOODHOUND: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber
written by L.A. Meyer
narrated by Katherine Kellgren
Listen & Live Audio, Inc.
ISBN: 9781593161422
Ages 12-up
October 2008

Now that the King of England has called her a pirate and put a price on her head, Jacky Faber has no choice but to stay out of sight. Hoping for a safe hiding place, she returns to the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston, but the calm doesn't last long. On a class field trip to Boston Harbor, the girls are abducted and forced into the hold of the Bloodhound, a ship bound for the slave markets on the Barbary Coast where they will be put up on the auction block and sold into Arab harems. Jacky wouldn't dream of going down without a fight, but the delicate Lawson Peabody girls are in over their heads. Although Jacky will use anything in her arsenal to help her well-heeled classmates, she isn't so certain they will find the strength and courage needed to survive. But if she can convince them to trade petticoats and propriety for her daring escape plan, the girls just might become their own rescuers.

PEACE, LOCOMOTION
written by Jacqueline Woodson
narrated by Dion Graham
Brilliance Audio
ISBN: 9781423397984
Ages 9-11
July 2009

Twelve-year-old Lonnie is finally feeling at home with his foster family. But because he’s living apart from his little sister, Lili, he decides it’s his job to be the “rememberer” --- and write down everything that happens while they’re growing up. Lonnie’s musings are bittersweet; he’s happy that he and Lili have new families, but though his new family brings him joy, it also brings new worries. With a foster brother in the army, concepts like Peace have new meaning for Lonnie.

WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball
written by Kadir Nelson
narrated by Dion Graham
Brilliance Audio
ISBN: 9781423375364
Ages 8-up
January 2009

The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship; of fortunes won and lost; of triumphs and defeats on and off the field. It is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world: play ball.

Using an “Everyman” player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through its decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947.