Artists in Ukraine have lost their livelihoods. The Ukraine Audiobook Relief Project was launched to support artists in Ukraine whose lives are threatened because of war.

It is a fundamental aspect of war to suppress story, language, and culture. Moved by this crisis of culture, members of PANA (the Professional Audiobook Narrators Association) created this audiobook to raise money for Ukrainian relief. Joined by writers and musicians, we have volunteered our work to show our support for artists living through war.

100% of the profits from the sale of this audiobook donated by PANA (pronarrators.org) will provide financial support to the Artists at Risk Connection in Ukraine through PEN America, a non-profit organization that endeavors to safeguard the right to artistic freedom of expression and ensure that artists and cultural professionals everywhere can live and work without fear. We urge you to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine by supporting its artists.

The folk wisdom of Ukraine includes this expression: “A word is not a sparrow … once it flies out, you won’t catch it.”

‘A Word Is Not A Sparrow’ is a diverse anthology of stories set amid Russian repression through the centuries; personal narrator testimony about the impact in America of immigrant grandparents from Ukraine and elsewhere; powerful fables and allegories that deliver universal messages about displacement, migration, and human connection; and classic Cossack folk tales that are a touchstone of Ukrainian culture. Listen as we let these words fly out around the world.

Narrated by PANA member volunteers Barry Abrams, Jennifer Jill Araya, Dave Arlington, Rosemary Benson, Anna Crowe, Claudia Dunn, Andrea Emmes, Gary Furlong, Rebecca Gallagher, Caroline Hewitt, Susan Iannucci, Elizabeth Jasicki, Tom Jordan, Jennifer March, Janet Metzger, Rich Miller, Erin Moon, Sara Morsey, Traci Odom, Sheri Saginor and Tiffany Williams.

Music by Michael Nazaretz & the Samovar Russian Folk Ensemble, Jeff Crompton, Roger French, and Kenny Raskin.

Writers include Barry Abrams, Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh, Andrea Emmes and Karen Bogle, Vladislav Davidzon, Christopher Dewees, Thaisa Frank, Teresa Johnson, Alla Kudzieva, Taras Shevchenko, and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.

©2000, 2022, 2023 Yulia’s Morning © 2023; Jewish Ukraine Fights Nazi Russia © 2022; Four (by Two) © 2022, by Teresa Johnson. Excerpt from Fishke the Lame published in Yiddish in 1869 by Mendele Moykher-Sforim. Translation by Ken Frieden © 2000 by Syracuse University…licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Other stories are in the public domain or have been contributed by contemporary authors (P)2024 PANA

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When book dealers Molly O’Donnell and Emma Clarke meet at an estate sale, they are both there for the books. But Emma ventures past a “No Admittance” sign into the basement and finds, not only a vast occult library but also the dead body of a notorious book thief. She calls Molly, who spots a warning note in Elizabethan script next to the body. Cautious Emma follows Molly’s adventurous lead as they search for the missing book to which the note belongs, which Molly thinks must be a book of spells—a grimoire.

When they find an underground tunnel leading to a room set up for black magic, they suspect that the murdered man may have discovered something that led to his death. Is the magic circle behind his death? Or could it be one of the booksellers, each of whom has good reason to be angry at the book thief? Murder at the Estate Sale is a bibliomystery that introduces a pair of amateur sleuths, booksellers who mix their search for vintage books with a penchant for investigating murders.

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Crazy things are about to happen to 12-year-old Frankie Jackson after she signs on to compete in a reality TV show. Not only does she have to win a televised pitching competition, but she also has to figure out who burned down an abandoned houseboat and how come a 15-year-old con artist wants to become her BFF. And weirdest of all—why is she getting phone calls from someone claiming to be the “real” Frankie Jackson? I Like Your Shoes, the third book in the Frankie Jackson mystery series, takes place on the Sausalito houseboat docks.

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Twelve-year-old Mary Frances “Frankie” Jackson has been sent to California for the summer to live on a houseboat with her Aunt Roxy. There’s one catch—she can’t get in trouble, or it’s back to New Jersey and juvenile detention camp. Too bad that days after arriving at the houseboat community, Frankie is accused of animal cruelty (killing a cat) and has two weeks to prove her innocence. In the process, she gets to know all the eccentrics on the dock. There’s Forgetting Michael, a young disabled man who forgets things whenever a loud noise goes off; Alice, an eighty-two-year-old activist who loves birds and hates cats; Margie Britt, a washed-out ’70s TV star; and Butch, an exceptional German shepherd who shows affection in unexpected ways. 

This is the first of three books in the Frankie Jackson mystery series.

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As far as 12-year-old Frankie Jackson is concerned, mermaids are like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny—stuff made up by grown-ups so that they can sell movies and toys. At least that’s what Frankie’s dad once told her.

But one day, while staying on a houseboat for the summer, Frankie finds herself face-to-face with a mermaid. Convinced that it is a dream, Frankie can’t shake the vision of the blue-haired sea creature. Meanwhile, the town of Sausalito is buzzing with rumors about a wealthy woman who disappeared into the Bay wearing a million-dollar necklace (shaped like a mermaid). Are the missing woman and Frankie’s dream related?

That’s what Frankie has to find out!

With help from her houseboat friends and Roxy, her host and confidant for the summer, Frankie proves her innocence. But more importantly, she learns that dreams and real life can sometimes merge … and that people are not always who they seem to be.

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