No Biking in the House Without a Helmet
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Narrated by:
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Coleen Marlo
About this listen
When the two-time National Book Award finalist Melissa Fay Greene confided to friends that she and her husband planned to adopt a four-year-old boy from Bulgaria to add to their four children at home, the news threatened to place her, she writes, "among the greats: the Kennedys, the McCaughey septuplets, the von Trapp family singers, and perhaps even Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev, who, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, gave birth to 69 children in eighteenth-century Russia." Greene is best known for her books on the civil rights movement and the African HIV/AIDS pandemic. But Melissa and her husband have also pursued a more private vocation: parenthood.
,p>When the number of children hit nine, Greene took a break from reporting. She trained her journalist's eye upon events at home. Fisseha was riding a bike down the basement stairs; out on the porch, a squirrel was sitting on Jesse's head; vulgar posters had erupted on bedroom walls; the insult niftam (the Amharic word for "snot") had led to fistfights; and four non-native-English-speaking teenage boys were researching, on Mom's computer, the subject of "saxing." "At first I thought one of our trombone players was considering a change of instrument," writes Greene. "Then I remembered: they can’t spell." Using the tools of her trade, she uncovered the true subject of the "saxing" investigation, inspiring the chapter "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, but Couldn’t Spell." A celebration of parenthood; an ingathering of children, through birth and out of loss and bereavement; a relishing of moments hilarious and enlightening---No Biking in the House Without a Helmet is a loving portrait of a unique twenty first-century family as it wobbles between disaster and joy.©2011 Melissa Fay Greene (P)2011 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Nonfiction author Melissa Fay Greene (Praying for Sheetrock, The Temple Bombing, and There Is No Me Without You) turns her powers of observation and curiosity on herself as she recounts the adoption of her five children from Bulgaria and Ethiopia. Greene and her husband, a prominent Atlanta attorney, already have four children of their own, but after a late pregnancy ends in miscarriage, the couple begins the agonizing, harrowing, and often hilarious process of adopting foreign children and integrating them into their swelling home.
Multi-award-winning voice artist Coleen Marlo adopts the voice of Greene and nails the fear, self-doubt, and motherly instinct that kicks in as the author travels alone to Bulgaria and Addis Ababa to meet the children she and her husband plan to adopt. Marlo’s crisp diction makes for an easy listen, although she occasionally becomes overwrought in passages, such as when Greene is trying to pitch a story to a magazine while dealing with her screaming infant son. There’s also an occasional odd fluctuation in Marlo’s voice, where her zeal for perfect diction affects something approaching a mannered English accent.
Greene is unflinching in her depiction of the poverty and desperation she finds on her sojourns to visit the orphanages and with the upheaval and dramas that occur once the adopted children are brought home. Marlo infuses Greene’s despair over young Jesse’s unexplainable rages and separation anxiety with empathetic tones. There’s also humor, especially when young Ethiopians Daniel and Yosef are caught watching porn on Greene’s computer, and nuanced drama as an older Jesse eventually sees his birth mother and claims, “I’m not a mystery anymore.” Describing a book as heartwarming might be a cliché, but in an age of dark and twisted memoirs, Greene and Marlo sheds light on a difficult, life-altering, and, ultimately, selfless decision. Collin Kelley
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- By MidwestGeek on 05-04-14
By: Molly Antopol
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Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter
- By: Melissa Francis
- Narrated by: Cris Dukehart
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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When Melissa Francis was eight years old, she won the role of lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, the little girl who was adopted with her brother (played by young Jason Bateman) by the Ingalls family on the world’s most famous prime-time soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. But behind the scenes, her success was fueled by the pride, pressure, and sometimes grinding cruelty of her stage mother.
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Awesome book - really enjoyed it.
- By Jane C. Bailey on 11-16-12
By: Melissa Francis
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Chanel Bonfire
- By: Wendy Lawless
- Narrated by: Wendy Lawless
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time Wendy Lawless turned 17, she'd known for quite some time that she didn't have a normal mother. But that didn't stop her from wanting one.... Georgann Rea didn't bake cookies or go to PTA meetings; she wore a mink coat and always had a lit Dunhill plugged into her cigarette holder. She went through men like Kleenex, and didn't like dogs or children. Georgann had the ice queen beauty of a Hitchcock heroine and the cold heart to match.
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Not an Engaging Listen
- By Sobriquet on 03-13-13
By: Wendy Lawless
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Everything You Ever Wanted
- A Memoir
- By: Jillian Lauren
- Narrated by: Jillian Lauren
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In her younger years, Jillian Lauren was a college dropout, a drug addict, and an international concubine in the Prince of Brunei's harem, an experience she immortalized in her best-selling memoir, Some Girls. In her 30s, Jillian's most radical act is learning the steadying power of love when she and her rock star husband adopt an Ethiopian child with special needs.
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Great for adoptive families
- By berry bomb on 07-06-22
By: Jillian Lauren
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Diamonds in the Shadow
- By: Caroline B. Cooney
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Through their love for people, yet ignorance of the unknown, the Finch Family has joined alongside their church and opened their home to an African refugee family who are moving to Connecticut. The Amabo family of four Andre, Celestine, Mattu, and Alake: father, mother, and teenage son and daughter arrive in great hope as they have escaped the tyranny of Africa. What the Finch Family doesnt know is that there are not just four refugees in this Amabo family, but five.
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Best Book Ever!!
- By Kylie on 08-13-15
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The House at Sugar Beach
- A Memoir
- By: Helene Cooper
- Narrated by: Helene Cooper
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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At once a deeply personal memoir and an examination of a violent and stratified country, The House at Sugar Beach tells of tragedy, forgiveness, and transcendence with unflinching honesty and a survivor's gentle humor. And at its heart, it is a story of Helene Cooper's long voyage home.
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Can't recommend it
- By Taryn on 03-25-16
By: Helene Cooper
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
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Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
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Breaking Night
- A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard
- By: Liz Murray
- Narrated by: Liz Murray
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls' home. At age 15, Liz found herself on the streets when her family finally unraveled. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep. Then, when Liz's mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny.
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unbelievably inspiring
- By Amazon Customer on 03-17-12
By: Liz Murray
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Don't Lick the Minivan
- And Other Things I Never Thought I'd Say to My Kids
- By: Leanne Shirtliffe
- Narrated by: Trudie Kessler
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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As a woman used to traveling and living the high life in Bangkok, Leanne Shirtliffe recognized the constant fodder for humor while pregnant with twins in Asia's sin city. But in spite of deep-fried bug cuisine and nurses who cover newborn bassinets with plastic wrap, Shirtliffe manages to keep her babies alive for a year with help from a Coca-Cola deliveryman, several waitresses, and a bra factory. Then she and her husband return home to the isolation of North American suburbia.
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I Guess You Had to Be There?
- By Sara on 09-08-14
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If I am Missing or Dead
- A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation
- By: Janine Latus
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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In April 2002, Janine Latus' youngest sister, Amy, wrote a note and taped it to the inside of her desk drawer. "Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved", it read, "but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me...."
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All About Janine
- By Ellen on 07-02-07
By: Janine Latus
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Bettyville
- By: George Hodgman
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself - an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook - in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. Will George lure her into assisted living? When hell freezes over. He can't bring himself to force her from the home both treasure - the place where his father's voice lingers, the scene of shared jokes, skirmishes, and, behind the dusty antiques, a rarely acknowledged conflict...
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Title Should Be Georgeville-It's All About George
- By Sara on 10-08-15
By: George Hodgman
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She Got Up Off the Couch
- By: Haven Kimmel
- Narrated by: Haven Kimmel
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When we last saw Zippy, she was oblivious to the storm that was brewing in her home. Her mother, Delonda, had literally just gotten up off the couch and ridden her rickety bicycle down the road. Her dad was off somewhere, gambling or "working." And Zippy was lost in her own fabulous world of exploring the fringes of Moorland, Indiana.
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Great fun !!
- By Kim on 04-20-11
By: Haven Kimmel
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Hope's Boy
- A Memoir
- By: Andrew Bridge
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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When Andrew Bridge was seven years old, he and his mother - a mentally unstable woman who loved her child more than she could care for him - slid deeper and deeper into poverty, until they were reduced to scavenging for food in trash bins. Welfare officials did little more than threaten to take Andrew away, until a social worker arrived with a police escort and did just that while his mother screamed on the sidewalk.
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American spilling his guts
- By Anthony on 01-12-12
By: Andrew Bridge
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In the Country
- Stories
- By: Mia Alvar
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Don Castro
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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These nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles, emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines to begin new lives in the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere - and sometimes turning back again.
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My introduction to Filipino literature and culture
- By Amazon Customer on 03-28-16
By: Mia Alvar
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How to Be an American Housewife
- A Novel
- By: Margaret Dilloway
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington, Emily Durante
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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How to Be an American Housewife is a novel about mothers and daughters and the pull of tradition. It tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI, and her grown daughter, Sue, a divorced mother whose life as an American housewife hasn't been what she'd expected. When illness prevents Shoko from traveling to Japan, she asks Sue to go in her place. The trip reveals family secrets that change their lives in dramatic and unforeseen ways.
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big disappointment
- By Kirsten on 04-12-12
What listeners say about No Biking in the House Without a Helmet
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Debra Garfinkle
- 10-02-11
Heartwarming
Any additional comments?
The author shared the joys and the agonies of mothering nine children, five of them adopted as children from other countries. I learned what it's like to raise so many children and felt like a relative slacker with only three children. I also learned about other countries and cultures and adoption. The book is heartwarming, funny, and fast-paced. It's a great listen.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Peter
- 02-14-12
Great story of family changes
I enjoyed and laughed at this witty and thought-provoking autobiography from Greene. As a parent, including of a son born and adopted in Ethiopia, it is always a wonderful thing to see how other parents deal with the trials and joys of parenting in general and raising adopted children in particular. I feel a little that I should feel "guilty" at only have a family with 2 children, after reading about this family of 9. I especially admire Greene's honesty, not just crowing about the child who excels at sports or academics, but describing the difficulties with the kids who do not excel at certain things, or who break rules and refuse to admit their guilt, or who get in endless battles with their siblings. It seems honest and the mother's admission that she couldn't handle some of these things alone brings out my sympathies.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Daryl
- 01-16-13
With a title like this, how can you go wrong?
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Absolutely! With so many people viewing children as a burden, this story treats them as the precious gifts they are. It is hilarious, heartwarming, and makes your heart break for the children who do not receive the little things we westerners so often take for granted
Who was your favorite character and why?
All of the children. I felt like I got to know them as though they were part of my family - warts and all
What about Coleen Marlo’s performance did you like?
Her ability to insert whit, humor, and even funny animal sounds... all without sounding like a 3rd grade teacher.. top notch!
Any additional comments?
This book was an incredible look at an unconvential typical American family... The title caught my eye, and the book itself did not disappoint. If you are thinking of adoption, or are interested at all in the subject of large families, this book is perfect.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mikki Van Buren
- 01-13-23
Different than expected but better
The beginning was different than expected with the post-adoption thing but as I thought about it, I think it’s to be expected. Everything isn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows but you figure out each other’s quirks and work with it. I loved this book.
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