Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. I am so happy today to introduce to you one of our fine library specialists, Jake. He has been interested for awhile in recording a story for our podcast, and he chose a very interesting story indeed. Here is Jake, reading a story called The Fifty-Seventh Cat, by Sheela Chari. The book this selection was taken from, Super Puzzletastic Mysteries, edited by Chris Grabenstein,  was published by HarperCollins publishing company, which has graciously extended permission for us to read this book out loud and share it with others on this podcast until December 31, 2023. At that time, it will be taken down in accordance with the copyright requirements, so listen now, while it’s available. And now, here is Jake who will introduce himself and say a few words before jumping into his story. 

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. Here is the thrilling final episode of Dandelion Cottage, written way back in 1904 by Carroll Watson Rankin. Even though this book is more than a hundred years old, so many of the experiences seem to be right up to date: the anxiety that comes in preparation for a dinner party, for example, or the happiness we feel when everything turns out just right. These feelings are universal, and I think that is what makes Dandelion Cottage a book to love and remember.

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 would love to hear from you, so please send me an email at [email protected]. It would make me so happy! 

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!

Send us Fan Mail

Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. In the last episode, Mr. Downing, the church warden, told his wife he intended to listen with the strictest impartiality to the girls’ side of the story concerning those terrible Milligans. But does he listen? Not at all! He is more concerned with noticing all the little homey details the girls have added to the cottage and how the housekeeping is done than in truly hearing what the girls have to say. And then . . . ! But I won’t give anything else away. About the only bright spot in today’s story is that Mabel discovers the missing lemonade money in the old cracked pitcher.  

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 dear Grandma Pike moved away, the girls wondered and wondered who their new neighbors would be. Finally, they arrived: a man and his wife, a boy, a girl (about the age of the four cottagers), a baby, and a dog! How wonderful it would be to have a new friend, and a new baby to play with! But oh, those Milligans! They are certainly not the kindly neighbors the girls hoped to have. 

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. This is an episode of departures. First there is lovely Miss Blossom, the three-week lodger in Dandelion Cottage. But alas, three weeks passes so quickly and before the girls know it, Miss Blossom has to leave. Then Grandma Pike, who lives next door, moves away to live with her married daughter. Then Mr. Brown is called away to Washington for business for at least a month. So, his dinner must be postponed until he returns. At least kindly Mrs. Crane won’t be leaving. She always has a place for the girls, and they become better friends than ever!

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. Can you imagine furnishing a whole house, well, a cottage, with old, cast-off furniture and cracked dishes and a couch that is really just burlap spread over boxes? That is what Bettie, Mabel, Jean, and Marjory are doing, and they are having the time of their lives! If only they had a little bit of money so they could buy the ingredients for M.B.D (Mister Brown’s Dinner). Here is the next episode of Dandelion Cottage.

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!

Send us Fan Mail

Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When I was a little girl, my dad built a playhouse under a big blue spruce tree for my sisters and me. I spent hours and hours playing in it. I swept the floor and decorated it with pictures I drew and flowers I picked in the alley. What wonderful memories I have of that little playhouse! In this book, four girls set their hearts on using an old vacant and very rundown cottage as their special place to play. They certainly have to work hard to make it theirs! Here is the first part of Bettie, Mabel, Jean, and Marjory’s delightful adventure in Dandelion Cottage. 

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!

Oh, the scrapes Nancy Drew gets herself in! At the beginning of this episode, we find her gagged, and bound hand and foot as a captive of three scoundrels: Tom Tozzle, Bud Mason, and the particularly mean Mary Mason, who seems to have a personal antipathy toward Nancy. How can she ever extricate herself from their clutches? Here is the final, exciting segment of Nancy Drew in The Mystery at Lilac Inn! Remember, this book can only remain on the podcast until June 30, 2023. But never fear, we can bring it back again on January 1, 2026, when it enters the public domain!

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! 

If Nancy Drew is anything, she is a good friend to those in need. Emily Crandall certainly needs a good friend to help restore her inheritance and, if possible, clear her guardian, Mrs. Willoughby, from suspicion of the jewel theft. Nancy is doing all she can, even following the tiniest whiff of a clue no matter where it leads. But is Nancy brave, or is she foolhardy when she sneaks into the dilapidated house in Dockville where three hardened criminals are discussing their latest heist? 

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!