Episodes
Welcome to Stories Come to Life! I would love to hear from you, so please send me an email at [email protected]. It would make me so happy!  Listening to audiobooks really does count as reading, and there's no better way to relax than to hear Stories Come to Life!
Published 08/01/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. In the last episode, Mr. Downing, the church warden, told his wife he intended to listen with the strictest impartiality to the girls’ side of the story concerning those terrible Milligans. But does he listen? Not at all! He is more concerned with noticing all the little homey details the girls have added to the cottage and how the housekeeping is done than in truly hearing what the girls have to say. And then . . . ! But I...
Published 07/25/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When dear Grandma Pike moved away, the girls wondered and wondered who their new neighbors would be. Finally, they arrived: a man and his wife, a boy, a girl (about the age of the four cottagers), a baby, and a dog! How wonderful it would be to have a new friend, and a new baby to play with! But oh, those Milligans! They are certainly not the kindly neighbors the girls hoped to have.  Now sit back, relax, and listen to this...
Published 07/22/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. This is an episode of departures. First there is lovely Miss Blossom, the three-week lodger in Dandelion Cottage. But alas, three weeks passes so quickly and before the girls know it, Miss Blossom has to leave. Then Grandma Pike, who lives next door, moves away to live with her married daughter. Then Mr. Brown is called away to Washington for business for at least a month. So, his dinner must be postponed until he returns....
Published 07/10/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Can you imagine furnishing a whole house, well, a cottage, with old, cast-off furniture and cracked dishes and a couch that is really just burlap spread over boxes? That is what Bettie, Mabel, Jean, and Marjory are doing, and they are having the time of their lives! If only they had a little bit of money so they could buy the ingredients for M.B.D (Mister Brown’s Dinner). Here is the next episode of Dandelion Cottage. Now,...
Published 06/30/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When I was a little girl, my dad built a playhouse under a big blue spruce tree for my sisters and me. I spent hours and hours playing in it. I swept the floor and decorated it with pictures I drew and flowers I picked in the alley. What wonderful memories I have of that little playhouse! In this book, four girls set their hearts on using an old vacant and very rundown cottage as their special place to play. They certainly...
Published 06/27/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. During this time of Covid, many people aren’t able to use the library in the same way as in the past. To help bring more stories to more readers, many publishing companies are allowing books that are normally unavailable for copyright reasons to be read out loud and shared with others until June 30th, 2023. The stories that fall under that special permission will all be taken down on that date, so listen now, while they’re...
Published 06/07/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. During this time of Covid, many people aren’t able to use the library in the same way as in the past. To help bring more stories to more readers, many publishing companies are allowing books that are normally unavailable for copyright reasons to be read out loud and shared with others until June 30th, 2023. The stories that fall under that special permission will all be taken down on that date, so listen now, while they’re...
Published 06/02/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. During this time of Covid, many people aren’t able to use the library in the same way as in the past. To help bring more stories to more readers, many publishing companies are allowing books that are normally unavailable for copyright reasons to be read out loud and shared with others until June 30th, 2023. The stories that fall under that special permission will all be taken down on that date, so listen now, while they’re...
Published 05/30/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. During this time of Covid, many people aren’t able to use the library in the same way as in the past. To help bring more stories to more readers, many publishing companies are allowing books that are normally unavailable for copyright reasons to be read out loud and shared with others until June 30th, 2023. The stories that fall under that special permission will all be taken down on that date, so listen now, while they’re...
Published 05/24/23
So many people have enjoyed listening to Nancy Drew’s adventures that I decided to record the fourth book in the series: The Mystery at Lilac Inn, which, like the other three I already recorded, was also published first in 1930. As I stated earlier, this recording, for copyright reasons, can only stay on the podcast until June 30, 2023. But on January 1, 2026, the story will be in the public domain, so I’ll be able to reinstate them fairly soon! In the meantime, please enjoy Nancy’s story as...
Published 05/19/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Ben Mason has faced so many obstacles as he has tried to make his place at Clearview Academy. He was assigned extra work so he would appear to be out of condition, he was able to save the life of a teammate and fainted from the loss of blood as a result, and now he is enduring a punishment after being falsely suspected of stealing money. How can he ever rise above this cloud of suspicion and unfair treatment to reach his...
Published 05/08/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When I was visiting my parents a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was reading The Winning Basket on this podcast. Pleased, Dad shared with me this poem that seems very fitting for Ben’s tale. It is one of the poems in a book called Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle, which is an anthology of poetry edited by Stephen Dunning, Edward Lueders, and Hugh Smith. The poem, Foul Shot, was written by Edwin A. Hoey and...
Published 05/04/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Here is some amazing basketball! With Ben on the team, the Clearview Academy cadets have the opportunity to win and win and win. But tensions inside of the team seem to be pulling the squad apart. What in the world can Ben do to make the team start to click again? As always, Ben seems to be at the right place at the right time to make a big difference, and perhaps even save a life. Now, sit back, relax, and listen to this...
Published 04/27/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Now as a member of the Clearview Academy basketball squad, Ben Mason knows this gives him a chance to prove to the rest of the school that he is worthy to be one of them. He plays with all his heart and tries to motivate his teammates to play their best as well. When they face their first contest, with Corona School, Ben has the opportunity to show what he can do! Now, sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to...
Published 04/19/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Now Ben has to work for his living, in order to have enough money to live until Clearview Academy returns his tuition and he can decide what else he can do to make his start in life. Because he is a good mechanic with a level head, he thinks of some ways to speed up the production in the valve assembly part of the automobile plant. His clever innovations bring him to the attention of the owner, John Harrigan, and once again...
Published 04/05/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When I was growing up, I would often go down the basement where my dad had set up bookshelves that he made into a library. I would scan the shelves, searching for something interesting to read. Over the years, I read many, many of those books, some of them several times. Two books I remember that were always shelved right next to each other came from my dad’s childhood collection. One of them was about hockey, and the...
Published 03/31/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Here is the thrilling conclusion of The Enchanted Barn, by Grace Livingston Hill. Somehow that old stone barn must actually have some magical enchantment to it because none of the Hollisters or the Grahams will ever be the same again after falling under its influence. But is it actually the barn that caused the life-changing circumstances or the benevolent effect of trusting in something beyond themselves and being willing...
Published 03/15/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. What is happening to Shirley? In this episode, brave Shirley Hollister shows the ingenuity of Nancy Drew and the courage of a valiant knight as she does her best to protect her top-secret shorthand notes from being taken by a gang of ruthless criminals. Her quick-witted strategies soon involve Sidney Graham as well as her little sister, Carol. In the middle of this very trying situation, Shirley relies on her one sure...
Published 03/08/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. It’s time for Shirley Hollister’s two-week vacation, and what an amazing opportunity is coming to their family! Mr. and Mrs. Graham have invited the Hollisters to take their daughter, Elizabeth, to their shore-house for the month of September while Mr. and Mrs. Graham visit out West. It will be the first time Shirley and the rest have seen the ocean, and wouldn’t it be lovely for Doris to play in the sand? Now if only Mr....
Published 02/27/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. At the ending of the last episode, Sidney Graham has gone out West to conduct some business for his father. He went to investigate some mines. The Hollisters weren’t neglected, though, and each member of the family living in the barn received some token that he had been thinking of them. Surprisingly, this is where the story takes an interesting turn when upon Sidney Graham’s return, the already resourceful and clever...
Published 02/21/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. What a wonderful life it is for the Hollister family! They wake up to the birds’ vibrant dawn chorus, enjoy the fresh country air, and can watch the sunset at night, all from the comfortable, homey stone barn! Sidney Graham and his sister are frequent guests at the barn, and even the fashionable Mrs. Graham is charmed by the intrepid little family. Shirley gives herself a good talking to in order to make sure she doesn’t...
Published 02/10/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. The furniture is in place, an old denim cloth that used to be a floor covering has been patched and cleaned and hung up as a curtain, the piano is in the corner of the new living room in the barn, and everything is ready for the Hollisters to move in. Kind Elizabeth Graham has one more welcoming surprise for the family and she works behind the scenes to prepare the barn to be as beautiful and comfortable as she can make it....
Published 01/31/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Not only are Shirley, Carol, and George Hollister charmed by the big old barn, but Sidney and Elizabeth Graham can see the possibilities too. The elegant Graham siblings are also charmed by the humble and steadfast Hollisters, too, and they are determined to make the barn as welcoming and comfortable as possible, while trying at the same time to respect Shirley and her family’s pride and their determination not to take...
Published 01/24/23
Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. What about that big, beautiful barn? First Shirley, and then Sidney Graham have explored it and found it to be a charming, peaceful place. Shirley would really like her brother George and sister Carol to see the place before she makes any firm decisions about whether to move their little family there to live. Can such an opportunity be arranged? Isn’t it wonderful that there are such kind and open-hearted people in the...
Published 01/19/23