Ellen Tebbits Audiobook By Beverly Cleary cover art

Ellen Tebbits

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Ellen Tebbits

By: Beverly Cleary
Narrated by: Andrea Martin
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Ellen Tebbits is convinced she'll die of embarrassment if any of the girls at school discover her secret. But then she meets Austine Allen, a new girl in class who's hiding the very same secret. Instantly, the two become best friends. They do everything together, from clapping erasers to riding horses. Ellen quickly learns that embarrassing secrets and pesky troublemakers like Otis Spofford aren't so bad when you have someone special to stick up for you. But then Ellen does something terrible that makes Austine stop speaking to her. Will she ever be able to prove how sorry she is?©1951 Beverly Cleary (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Chapter Books & Readers Growing Up & Facts of Life Humorous Fiction Intermediate Readers Literature & Fiction Social & Life Skills

Editorial reviews

Narrator Andrea Martin playfully creates a cast of characters surrounding the likable Ellen Tebbits, including the irritating pest, Otis Spofford, the stoutly loyal best friend, Austine Allen, and a host of others. (She's particularly funny as the airy Mrs. Valerie Todd Spofford, the ballet teacher.) Martin saves her best for Ellen herself, conveying with insight and humor the ups and downs of a fourth-grader's life. Martin expresses Ellen's worst fears (does her long underwear show under her tutu?) and deepest joys (Austine really is protecting her from the dreadful Otis!). Children will enjoy this story, which includes valuable lessons about friendship, loyalty, and common sense.

Critic reviews

"Mrs. Cleary writes from a sure knowledge of the third grader's world. It all rings true." (The New York Times)
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I listened to this book to see why I liked it so much as a child. I can see that Ellen and I had much of the same luck and experiences, so I must have felt a connection to her. Narrator was a good Ellen and Otis. Austine and the rest of the characters sounded like 40 yo men with colds. As much as I hate to criticize, those voices were awful. But overall I enjoyed the story.

A Childhood Favorite

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They were in the same grade as me 🙂 💜 but they had a argument me and my BFF

They are like me and my BFF

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This book was GREAT!!! A true Beverly Cleary original. I noticed several motifs from some of her other works. I’ll continue to listen to more of her books. Ellen is kind, imaginative, and a very good friend. However, Austene is my favorite. She’s very outgoing and has a pure heart. Fantastic work Ms. Cleary, and great work audible!

Ellen Tebbits

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Otis is so funny! And Ellen is silly to! I love it! They are silly!

Love it

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I liked this story, but the narration was distracting.

The voice was completely unsuitable --did not have a childlike quality. Sounded harsh, overly emphatic, and lacked freshness.

Too bad, a nice little story.

A cute book

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My girls and I love this book, and we've read it many times out loud. It's one of my favorites from childhood and I never get tired of it. I was excited to see this offered in audiobook format. However, I was absolutely puzzled by the style of voice the narrator chose to give for many of the characters, especially Austine! The basic narration was fine, as was Ellen's voice - thankfully, or we might not have wanted to listen to the whole thing. But Austine's voice was performed in such a way that it made her sound like a male teenage bully! Very gruff, masculine-sounding, too loud, and too old. Didn't sound at all like a 3rd grade girl's voice. Ellen's voice sounded appropriate, so I'm shocked that the narrator would choose to portray Austine this way. It really detracted from the whole listening experience and was really puzzling. I did appreciate the nice, slow pace of the reading.

Puzzling!

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