
Professor Renoir's Collection of Oddities, Curiosities, and Delights
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.29
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Rebecca Gibel
-
By:
-
Randall Platt
About this listen
A gripping historical-fiction friendship story that will grab everyone by the heartstrings and never let go.
A giant, a dwarf, and three doomed circus animals....
By her 14th birthday, Babe Killingsworth measures six-feet-nine-inches and weighs 342 pounds. In 1896, what other options does a giant have but to join a carnival?
Her only real talent is handling animals: “Critters is folks to me.” The cheap outfit her feckless father sells her off to offers critters galore; an escape from Neal, Idaho; and a bit of fame. It also opens the doorway to exploitation and neglect.
But Babe’s love for Euclid (a chimp) and Jupiter (a bear) keeps her anchored, and in Professor Renoir’s Collection of Oddities, Curiosities, and Delights, she is among her own kind.
Enter Carlotta Jones, billed as the world’s smallest girl, whose elephant act leaves much to be desired. At 30 inches tall, Carlotta is beautiful, spoiled, demanding, and has very little talent - Egypt, her elephant, dances better than she does.
How can a giant like Babe and a dwarf like Carlotta ever see eye to eye? They don’t at first, but soon, they understand that a common enemy can bring anyone together - even a giant and a dwarf.
©2019 Randall Platt (P)2019 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Giver of Stars
- Reese's Book Club (A Novel)
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So, when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything.
-
-
About time!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-19
By: Jojo Moyes
-
The Book of Lost Friends
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss, Sullivan Jones, Robin Miles, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic historical novel of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.
-
-
I want more!!!
- By Mrstlg on 04-11-20
By: Lisa Wingate
-
Bud, Not Buddy
- By: Christopher Paul Curtis
- Narrated by: James Avery
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1936, in Flint Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him. 1. He has his own suitcase full of special things. 2. He’s the author of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. 3. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!! Bud’s got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father.
-
-
Great Family Audio
- By Dionne on 02-21-09
-
The Night Watchman
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, DC, this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Melanie on 03-09-20
By: Louise Erdrich
-
Stars of Alabama
- A Novel by Sean of the South
- By: Sean Dietrich
- Narrated by: Sean Dietrich
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 15-year-old Marigold becomes pregnant amid the Great Depression, she is rejected by her family and forced to fend for herself. And when she loses her baby in the forest, her whole world turns upside down. She’s even more distraught upon discovering she has an inexplicable power that makes her both beautiful and terrifying - and something of a local legend. Meanwhile, migrant workers Vern and Paul discover a violet-eyed baby and take it upon themselves to care for her.
-
-
Wow! How have I not heard of this?!?
- By Wren on 01-05-20
By: Sean Dietrich
-
Hardscrabble Road
- By: George Weinstein
- Narrated by: Ben Collins
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The entire MacLeod clan is haunted by secrets, and young Bud MacLeod doesn't realize he carries the biggest secret of all. Growing up poor in Depression-era South Georgia is hard enough, but Bud is also cursed with a stutter and a birthmark that disfigures his face. His hateful father and amoral mother make life worse still, despite his brother's efforts to shield him. To survive, Bud must discover his strengths and confront the sins of his parents. First, though, he'll need to grasp his own truth: that he can't embrace his future until he comes to terms with his past.
-
-
Great story!
- By Susan C-K on 11-15-18
By: George Weinstein
-
The Giver of Stars
- Reese's Book Club (A Novel)
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So, when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything.
-
-
About time!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-19
By: Jojo Moyes
-
The Book of Lost Friends
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss, Sullivan Jones, Robin Miles, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic historical novel of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.
-
-
I want more!!!
- By Mrstlg on 04-11-20
By: Lisa Wingate
-
Bud, Not Buddy
- By: Christopher Paul Curtis
- Narrated by: James Avery
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1936, in Flint Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him. 1. He has his own suitcase full of special things. 2. He’s the author of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. 3. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!! Bud’s got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father.
-
-
Great Family Audio
- By Dionne on 02-21-09
-
The Night Watchman
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, DC, this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Melanie on 03-09-20
By: Louise Erdrich
-
Stars of Alabama
- A Novel by Sean of the South
- By: Sean Dietrich
- Narrated by: Sean Dietrich
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 15-year-old Marigold becomes pregnant amid the Great Depression, she is rejected by her family and forced to fend for herself. And when she loses her baby in the forest, her whole world turns upside down. She’s even more distraught upon discovering she has an inexplicable power that makes her both beautiful and terrifying - and something of a local legend. Meanwhile, migrant workers Vern and Paul discover a violet-eyed baby and take it upon themselves to care for her.
-
-
Wow! How have I not heard of this?!?
- By Wren on 01-05-20
By: Sean Dietrich
-
Hardscrabble Road
- By: George Weinstein
- Narrated by: Ben Collins
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The entire MacLeod clan is haunted by secrets, and young Bud MacLeod doesn't realize he carries the biggest secret of all. Growing up poor in Depression-era South Georgia is hard enough, but Bud is also cursed with a stutter and a birthmark that disfigures his face. His hateful father and amoral mother make life worse still, despite his brother's efforts to shield him. To survive, Bud must discover his strengths and confront the sins of his parents. First, though, he'll need to grasp his own truth: that he can't embrace his future until he comes to terms with his past.
-
-
Great story!
- By Susan C-K on 11-15-18
By: George Weinstein
-
Wish You Well
- By: David Baldacci
- Narrated by: Norma Lana, David Baldacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1940 and a tragedy sends Lou and her little brother, Oz, along with their invalid mother, from New York City to the rugged mountains of Southwest Virginia to live with their great-grandmother. The story is told with both heartbreaking elegance and large doses of touching humor as the lives of Lou and Oz are changed forever.
-
-
Not your usual Baldacci
- By John on 06-07-07
By: David Baldacci
-
The Reformatory
- A Novel
- By: Tananarive Due
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.
-
-
Worth a listen
- By LadyLove on 11-07-23
By: Tananarive Due
-
This Side of the Sky
- By: Elyse Singleton
- Narrated by: Myra Taylor, Sharon Washington, Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning journalist Elyse Singleton delivers what Essence calls “a gem - the perfect book to curl up with.”
Best friends Lilian and Myraleen, two African American women from rural Mississippi, travel to Europe during World War II to act as members of the Women’s Army Corps. During this time of segregation and destruction, both women discover love and heartbreak, triumph and defeat.
-
-
A Breath of Fresh Air
- By Adina Andreu on 07-19-12
By: Elyse Singleton
-
Moon Over Manifest
- By: Clare Vanderpool
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Cassandra Campbell, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it's just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos.
-
-
AWESOME book! LOVED it!
- By Rae on 06-23-11
By: Clare Vanderpool
-
The Downstairs Girl
- By: Stacey Lee
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By day, 17-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, "Dear Miss Sweetie". When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society's ills, but she's not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender.
-
-
inaccurate historic details
- By kmh on 12-31-19
By: Stacey Lee
-
1922
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The chilling novella featured in Stephen King's New York Times best-selling short story collection Full Dark, No Stars - soon to be a Netflix original film starring Thomas Jane and Molly Parker. A violence awakens inside a man when his wife proposes selling off the family homestead, setting in motion a grisly train of murder and madness.
-
-
Good story; bad narration
- By Patricia King on 01-09-18
By: Stephen King
-
These Is My Words
- The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901
- By: Nancy E. Turner
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author's own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier. Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon - from child to determined young adult to loving mother.
-
-
Worst Narration I've Encountered in a Long Time
- By jingles on 10-30-15
By: Nancy E. Turner
-
Elijah of Buxton
- By: Christopher Paul Curtis
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you first walk into a room in a house, or into a stable, they have a way of telling you they know you're there. It ain't nothing particular noticeable, but the air inside of �em changes like it's saying, "I'm watching you". But I'd got into this stable so quiet and sneakish that nothing knowed I'd cracked open the door, held my breath, and took a step inside.
-
-
Great Book, but not for young children
- By Michael Yardley on 12-09-08
-
Follow Me Down
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A stark tale of a crime of passion, Follow Me Down tells the story of Luther Eustis, a respectably religious Mississippi farmer, who runs off to a deserted island with a young girl and brutally kills her after a three-week idyll. Why? And what was there about Eustis that attracted the young girl in the first place? The explanation of Eustis' motives is tangled and far from obvious, and each narrator perceives and reveals only parts and facets of the truth.
-
-
Worth The Trip
- By Pat Ryan on 08-06-17
By: Shelby Foote
-
Those Across the River
- By: Christopher Buehlman
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate - the Savoyard Plantation - and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.
-
-
Recording glitches, but a great gruesome tale
- By Wild Wise Woman on 09-11-11
-
Bet the Farm
- By: Staci Hart
- Narrated by: Troy Duran, Mia Madison
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Olivia Brent has one summer to save the dairy farm she just inherited. But there's one problem, and it's not her lactose intolerance. It's Jake Milovic. The brooding farmhand has inherited exactly 50 percent of Brent Farm, and he's so convinced the city girl can't work the land, he bets she can't save it in a summer. Determined to prove him wrong, Olivia accepts what might be the dumbest wager of her life.
-
-
Super adorable story and characters
- By Lisa X on 08-23-21
By: Staci Hart
-
A Northern Light
- By: Jennifer Donnelly
- Narrated by: Hope Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mattie Gokey has a word for everything. She collects words, stores them up as a way of fending off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can't write down in stories.
-
-
Well written fiction for adults and adolescents
- By Mark Grannis on 10-27-05
Critic reviews
"Platt proves again she is unafraid to tackle intensely emotional issues for young readers in this beautifully written piece. Like its title, it inspires both curiosity and delight." (Booklist)