Audiobooks have become a popular choice among every age group across the past half century, with rapid technology changes allowing increased accessibility and collection maintenance. Fifty years ago, children’s audiobooks were for the very young while audiobooks for adults were the purview of national services for the blind. Production values were limited and the choices by audiobooks’ few publishers of performers ignored the possibilities of all kinds of diversity, performer training, and the possibilities the print book suggested for bringing text to sound.
There have been a lot of changes in how experts and general opinion understand what makes “good” audiobook listening, too. In the three decades since Live Oak Media entered the children’s audiobook ecosystem, what is considered “good” for kids’ listening has moved from popularly perceived as a crutch from which nonreaders should be weaned to print to being recognized as a legitimate literacy tool. Thanks in large part to this tiny audiobook publisher, the format has become recognized as a literary and inspiring end in itself. A wide stable of skilled voice actors, original musical arrangements and other soundscaping, and wise choices of excellent kids’ books to produce have built a catalog that may be small in contrast to publishing Goliaths, but one mighty David in the field of quality.
From the beginning they have understood and sought authentic voices in performer choices along with picture books and middle grade fiction that offer excellent possibilities for the ear. Since the inception of the Audie Awards, the audiobook industry’s “Oscar” equivalent, they have won a dozen. The American Library Association’s Odyssey Award, made annually since 2008, specifically honors the winner’s producers, and Live Oak Media has taken home seven of these, including that in the award’s inaugural year and in 2026, too.
Live Oak Media has also kept apace of changing audiobook format options, currently supplying listeners with six alternatives including digital downloads, Yoto Cards, compact discs, Wonderbooks, Playaways, and eRead-Alongs. This format variation gives kids and families choices among what works best for their specific needs and preferences.
Live Oak Media’s mission is “to foster a love of reading by bringing stories to life through exceptional narration and production.” That life of each book sometimes arrives in a single performer’s nuanced voice acting and sometimes through a full cast. Among the Cardillos own favorites from their catalog are these three audiobooks rooted in picture books:
ESQUIVEL! Space Age Sound Artist written by Susan Wood, illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh, and performed by Brian Amador
WHEN GRANDFATHER FLEW written by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Chris Sheban, and performed by Katie Schorr and George Guidall
IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD written by Oscar Loubriel, illustrated by Rogerio Coelho, and performed by John Beach
Walter Dean Myers’ homage to Black community and The Spoon River Anthology, HERE IN HARLEM: Poems in Many Voices,brings listeners an “excellent introduction to poetry, social issues, and memoirs,” says Booklist, through the sounds of the city and the skillful delivery created by the audiobook star-studded cast that includes Patricia R. Floyd, Kevin R. Free, Arthur French, Dion Graham, Lizann Mitchell, and Robin Miles.
Live Oak Media also partners with food literacy publisher Readers to Eaters to provide listeners with each of their titles, in both the English and Spanish editions, with back matter frequently performed by the author and/or the featured subject of the specific title. Here, too, narrator choices are inspired, including graffiti artist and CHEF ROY CHOI AND THE STREET FOOD REMIX illustrator Man One as the voice of the title in the English edition.
At the 2026 Odyssey celebration, during the annual American Library Association’s conference, author, audiobook performer, and now co-director of audiobook production Traci Sorell brings members of the young cast of her audiobook CLACK, CLACK! SMACK!: a Cherokee Stickball Story to perform a passage from this winning title live on stage. We’re delighted, of course!
