Books in The Jim Weiss Audio Collection series

Great literature and science merge in this masterpiece of adventure, thrillingly retold by Jim Weiss. Accompany brilliant scientist Pierre Aronnax, his faithful servant Conseil, bold mariner Ned Land and mysterious Captain Nemo as they walk on the ocean floor, journey beneath polar ice, and fight for their lives against sharks, giant squids and one another. Come aboard!

In a time of fear and danger, will Merlin’s magic, Lancelot’s bravery, and Arthur’s wisdom be enough to unite the kingdom and bring peace?In this bundle (illustrated book and CD audiobook), beloved storyteller Jim Weiss brings tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table to life with action, wonder, and humor.Gorgeous paintings and whimsical medieval style illuminated illustrations by Rebecca Sorge will fascinate and delight young readers. This beautifully illustrated Companion Reader is an exact transcript of the award-winning storytelling performance, available in audio CD from Well-Trained Mind Press. The Reader can be enjoyed on its own or used along with the recorded performance to build strong language skills. It also includes instructions for casting, preparing, and staging a play of King Arthur’s adventures, along with a full script.Listen to the Jim Weiss stories on the CD, read along in the book to improve fluency, vocabulary, and grammar, and then speak great words and sentences out loud by practicing and performing the play based on the stories. Jim’s entertaining and literate audio tales make long car rides and rainy days a joy rather than a trial and introduce children to the great stories and sophisticated language of the world’s classics. full color illustrations throughout book

Discover the intriguing story of Empress Theodora in this unabridged junior-level audio CD of Robin Phillips's Who in the World Was The Acrobatic Empress?, read by Jim Weiss. The Emperor Justinian could not decide what to do. His people were rioting. An angry mob poured through the streets, looting, setting fires, and destroying houses and taverns. If they reached the palace, they might kill him. Justinian's trusted advisers pressed him to run to the port and sail away, giving up his throne to save his life. He turned and looked at his wife, the wisest person in the room. What would she, the Empress Theodora, urge him to do? This unabridged reading by Jim Weiss of the book is 26 minutes on one audio CD, giving second-grade readers insight into the life of this 6th century ruler.About the series: The classical curriculum introduces even the youngest student to the pleasures of true learning. Elementary students learn history not through predigested textbooks with multiple-choice answers, but through reading the stories of history. Unfortunately, biographies of great men and women of the past are almost all written for older students, limiting the ability of young students to explore history through reading. Libraries are crammed with biographies written for high school students and adults―while beginning readers are provided with a shelf full of junior-level books about football players, NASCAR drivers, and movie stars. Now, Peace Hill Press puts real history back into the grasp of the youngest historians with the Who in the World Biography Series. The entries in the series provide young readers and their parents and teachers with biographies of great men and women of the Middle Ages. Designed to be used as part of The Story of the World curriculum, these biographies give beginning historians in grades 2–4 a chance to explore beyond the textbook. The accompanying book is also available separately.

Master storyteller Jim Weiss brings Ruth Gannett’s Newbery Honor-winning classic to rollicking life in this new, unabridged audio adaptation. Young Elmer Elevator must use all his resourcefulness and cleverness (along with a little bit of chewing gum) to survive a journey to the mysterious Wild Island, where he aims to rescue an enslaved dragon. Jim Weiss’s endless variety of voices depict the crocodiles, warthogs, tigers, warthogs, and other colorful creatures whom Elmer meets along the way.

Based on the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel by Ernest J. Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small Louisiana Cajun community in the late 1940s. Jefferson, a young illiterate black man, is falsely convicted of murder and is sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, the plantation schoolteacher, agrees to talk with the condemned man. The disheartened Wiggins had once harbored dreams of escaping from his impoverished youth, yet he returned to his home town after university, to teach children whose lives seemed as unpromising as Jefferson s. The two men forge a bond as they come to understand what it means to resist and defy one s own fate. A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Rick Foucheux, Beatrice Winde, Keith Glover, Jerry Whiddon, Jamahl Marsh, Linda Powell and Jefferson A. Russell.

Set in Yonkers, New York in 1942, two boys, aged 13 and 16, must spend one year with their austere and demanding grandmother. While the war rages in Europe, Jay and Arty learn the ropes from Uncle Louie and assorted relatives, all peculiar characters. This classic Neil Simon play was a Pulitzer Prize Winner for Drama, Tony Award Winner for Best Play and Drama Desk Award Winner for Outstanding Play. A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Barbara Bain, Gia Carides, Dan Castellaneta, Ben Diskin, Arye Gross, Roxanne Hart and Kenneth Schmidt.

Outspoken tomboy Frankie befriends the family s maid in one of the most beautiful plays ever written about loneliness and love. Tall, awkward, and lonely, Frankie Addams has a vivid imagination but no friends. Even her father calls her a great big long-legged 12-year-old blunderbuss, and the friendless girl spends most of her time in the kitchen, pouring out her heart to Berenice, the gentle and wise family cook and housekeeper. Frankie< >s jealousy of her brother< >s impending marriage, and her curious belief that she must accompany him and his bride on their honeymoon in order to belong, drives her to strange measures. She devises a desperate plan, reinventing herself as the seemingly sophisticated F. Jasmine, a gawky beauty in a pink dress who looks closer to 16 than 12. But she's ill prepared for what follows from this troubling game of make-believe. Carson McCullers captures the universal in the particular in this sensitive, nuanced portrayal of one girl's struggle into adulthood. A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: June Angela, John Cothran Jr., Ruby Dee, Daniel Henson, Victor Mack, Jena Malone, Lawrence Pressman, Jacquelyn Riggs and Tegan West.

John Lithgow and B.D. Wong recreate their original roles from the Tony Award-winning production. Inspired by an actual espionage scandal, a French diplomat discovers the startling truth about his Chinese mistress. A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: John Lithgow, B.D. Wong, Margaret Cho, David Dukes, Joanna Frank, Arye Gross and Kathryn Layng.

Ride across Texas on a mountain lion with Pecos Bill; work up a giant appetite with the mighty lumberjack Paul Bunyan; spread happiness with Johnny Appleseed; and confront the Fastest Draw in the West. Read and listen to these wild tales–and then act them out yourself!Save when you get the audio and illustrated text together--this beautifully illustrated Companion Reader is an exact transcript of Jim Weiss’s award-winning storytelling performance of three classic American stories and one original tall tale.The Reader can be enjoyed on its own, or used along with the recorded performance to build strong language skills. Listen to the Jim Weiss stories, read along in the book to improve fluency, vocabulary, and grammar, and then speak great words and sentences out loud by practicing and performing the short, accessible dramatic versions of Jim’s performances (including a stage play, a puppet show, and a dramatic monologue).Jim’s entertaining and literate audio tales make long car rides and rainy days a joy rather than a trial and introduce children to the great stories and sophisticated language of the world’s classics. full color illustrations throughout book