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Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. “The Celestial Omnibus,” by E. M. Forster is one story in a larger collection published in 1911, and therefore happily in the public domain. Oh, how I love this short story! I think some of the things I like about it is that it reassures me that we don’t have to know all the details and obscure meanings of a poem or a book to find pleasure in reading it, and also that it lets me know that it’s not silly to look for secret paths and hidden byways into a new and wonderous place. I think I’ve been looking for another bus stop for the celestial omnibus all my life! But before I give away too much, I’ll let you decide for yourself.

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!

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Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When Betsy’s kitten, Eleanor, starts avoiding the house and spending most all of her time in the barn, Betsy follows her one day and finds Eleanor’s wonderful surprise, nestled into the hay up in the loft! At this same time a letter arrives from Aunt Frances that seems it will change, once again, the course of Betsy’s life. October in Vermont has never seemed so beautiful and precious before, and Betsy finds that her heart is inextricably woven into the lives of the dear people on the Putney Farm. 

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!

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Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. If Aunt Frances could see Betsy now, she probably wouldn’t recognize her! Betsy is becoming a compassionate, kind, and very clever young girl. She is developing a real friendship with Ralph, whom she used to be frightened even to be near, and she is like a little mother to sweet young Molly. She is also very brave and resourceful, as her adventure on her birthday at the county fair demonstrates!

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!

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Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. 

Betsy is learning so much at the Putney farm! In addition to helping out around the kitchen and learning to sew, Betsy is also learning compassion and how to care for others. She even has to figure out how to save little Molly when she falls into the Wolf Pit! How can she still be the same timid little girl who was so fearful of going to stay with the Putney cousins! 

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!

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Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. 

One thing I enjoy about Understood Betsy is how the author makes comments to us as Betsy’s story unfolds. For example, in today’s episode, Betsy is so confused about which grade she is supposed to be in in school. She is a wonderful reader, but not so good at arithmetic. She has had a long practice of guessing the answer to a multiplication problem instead of actually learning the tables. After explaining Betsy’s technique, the author quietly asks, “You never heard of any other child who did that, did you?” Because yes, I have heard of other children doing that. I think I even did it myself, before I memorized the multiplication tables! For me, that little question from the author helps me to relate even more to Betsy and her new experiences in Vermont. She is learning so much: how to cook, how to set aside her old fears, and most important, how to think for herself!

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!

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Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. What a strange new life it is for young Elizabeth Ann when she wakes up in the first morning of her time in Vermont. She does so many things for the very first time today: she gets herself up and dressed, fixes her own hair, and even learns how butter is made. But how can the Putney people expect her to go to school all by herself on this very first day? It is just too much! Elizabeth Ann, or Betsy, as everyone here calls her, is completely unprepared for all these new experiences!

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!

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Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. One of the reasons I love creating this podcast is that I can revisit some of the books I have loved all my life. Understood Betsy is one of these. Written in 1917 by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, this book is now in the public domain, which means it can stay available on this podcast forever! 

Here we meet little Elizabeth Ann, a nine-year-old orphan who has lived a very sheltered life with her great aunt Harriet and Aunt Frances. They have been so careful with her, and have taken such pains to analyze all of Elizabeth Ann’s thoughts and emotions, that she has never actually had to think of anything her own self. They have carefully raised her to be very delicate and sensitive and timid. But now the worst thing she can think of is happening! Elizabeth Ann is being sent to live with the Putney family in Vermont. How can she bear being apart from Aunt Frances, who understands her so well? How can she ever make a new life on this farm in Hillsboro?  

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!

Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce that Simon and Schuster Publishing Company has given permission for this book to be read out loud and shared on Stories Come to Life until December 31, 2023. But of course, the episodes that fall under that special permission will all be taken down on that date, so listen now, while they’re available! 

What a wonderful surprise! Nancy Drew discovered that the car she flagged down on the lake road contained her father and Laura Pendleton! Now the three of them can put their skills together to try to stop dastardly Stumpy Dowd before he can cross the state line and escape with Laura’s entire fortune! In her blue roadster, Nancy embarks on a high-speed chase! 

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!

Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce that Simon and Schuster Publishing Company has given permission for this book to be read out loud and shared on Stories Come to Life until December 31, 2023. But of course, the episodes that fall under that special permission will all be taken down on that date, so listen now, while they’re available!  

In her attempt to rescue the REAL Jacob Aborn from the dungeon where he has been held captive, Nancy Drew has fallen into the clutches of the notorious Stumpy Dowd! One of her father’s friends told her how a person could free oneself after being tied up. Can she remember how to do it? In the meantime, Laura Pendleton is becoming worried about Nancy. When Carson Drew returns from his trip and finds Laura in his home, they decide to go to Melrose Lake to help Nancy. Oh, if only it’s not too late!

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!

Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce that Simon and Schuster Publishing Company has given permission for this book to be read out loud and shared on Stories Come to Life until December 31, 2023. But of course, the episodes that fall under that special permission will all be taken down on that date, so listen now, while they’re available! 

Brave Nancy Drew has a plan to help Laura Pendleton. She tried to confront Jacob Aborn, Laura’s cruel guardian, but she didn’t learn much from him. Nancy still feels there is something she could do. So, with her detective instincts on high alert, she decides to stealthily investigate Jacob Aborn’s bungalow, and while she’s in the vicinity, she wants to do a bit of sleuthing in that old abandoned bungalow down the road. It’s a very risky situation. Will Nancy escape unhurt? 

Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life.

Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Let me know what you think! Please send an email to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!