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Let’s be honest: a great narrator can make or break an audiobook listening experience. An accomplished narrator is able to create a rich listening environment through voice characterizations, pacing, and creating a natural narrative flow. If you find a narrator you enjoy, choosing your next audiobook selection by the narrator often reveals a book choice you may have never made on your own. I have chosen to highlight four accomplished narrators who are some of the best in their field and vary their work in genre and reads for all ages.

• An accomplished and respected British actor for decades, Jim Dale is a multiple-award winning audiobook narrator and a great choice for family road trips. In addition to the entire Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, Dale has narrated Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. For an older teen and adult audience, fantasy selection The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is another excellent choice.
• For many years, the reliable thrillers and mysteries of popular authors such as Alex Berenson, Lilian Jackson Braun, Robin Cook, Vince Flynn, Daniel Silva, and Randy Wayne White have been narrated by the excellent George Guidall. He has also tackled classics such as My Antonia by Willa Cather or The Iliad by Homer.
• Jayne Entwistle is the narrator of all nine delightful Flavia de Luce mysteries by Alan Bradley; begin with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. She is also responsible for the excellent narration of the 2016 Newbery Honor title, The War That Saved My Life by Kathleen Brubaker Bradley.
• Julia Whelan is a great narrator choice if you enjoy contemporary women’s fiction, or a variety of young adult and children’s literature. The 2015 Printz Award winner I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson is alternately narrated by Julia Whelan and Jesse Bernstein. Whelan also narrates Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, a great book club selection published last year. And lastly, The Princes in Black: Books 1-3 by Shannon Hale are a great introduction to a funny and adventurous children’s series.

If you do find a narrator you like, the online card catalog, www.easicat.net, allows you to search by the narrator name, just as you would for an author. In coming months, we’ll be highlighting more accomplished narrators with suggestions for great audiobooks from our collection!