Earlier this month I asked for your suggestions of titles the 2010 Odyssey Committee should be sure to consider. Thanks to those of you who emailed me with your favorite titles produced between November 1, 2008 and October 31, 2009. Please keep those suggestions coming – just email me at sharon.grover@yahoo.com and I’ll pass them along to the committee.

The Odyssey Award is the only media award committee I know of that’s administered by two divisions of ALA and that’s part of the great fun of serving on it. Each year, the committee switches administration between ALSC and YALSA. There are nine of us on the committee, so in a YALSA year there are 5 YALSA members (the chair’s appointed by the division administering that year’s award) and 4 ALSC members. This year, ALSC is administering the award. But here’s an interesting fact – by about midway through our year of service (and this is my second time around on Odyssey with my first appointment being from YALSA) no one remembers who was appointed by which division. We’re all just listening for the best audiobooks for children and/or young adults.

So what are we listening for? What, exactly, makes a great audiobook?

Here’s the statement that sums it up for me from the criteria found on the Odyssey website: The committee must consider technical and aesthetic aspects, including the effective use of narration as well as music and sound effects when they are incorporated into the production. These elements must come together to create a unified whole. It’s that “unified whole” that makes for a great listening experience. When it all comes together – a terrific narrator or narrators, wonderful technical aspects (crisp, clear sound; no gaping spots that make you think your batteries died; music that’s appropriate to the story and doesn’t overwhelm the text), married to a book that’s meant to be read aloud – it’s an amazing literary experience.

If you haven’t listened to an audiobook yet, give one a try. You might start with last year’s winner, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, written and narrated by Sherman Alexie, produced by Recorded Books, LLC. If you are an audiobook listener, let’s hear about some of your favorites.

I’ll continue to share the Odyssey process to encourage you to become an audiobooks listener and, better yet, volunteer to be part of a future Odyssey committee.