Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It
Kindle
$7.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Library Binding
$6.97
Paperback
$7.99
Audible Logo Your audiobook is waiting!
Enjoy a free trial on us
$0.00
  • Click above for unlimited listening to select audiobooks, Audible Originals, and podcasts.
  • One credit a month to pick any title from our entire premium selection — yours to keep (you'll use your first credit now).
  • You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
  • $14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel online anytime.
Learn more about membership
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company
List Price: $15.75
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice.
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Sundee T. Frazier (Author), Mirron Willis (Narrator), Listening Library (Publisher)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 45 ratings
See all formats and editions
Ten-year-old Tae Kwon Do blue belt and budding rock hound Brendan Buckley keeps a "Confidential" notebook for his top-secret scientific discoveries. And he's found something totally top secret. The grandpa he's never met, who his mom refuses to talk about or see, is an expert mineral collector and lives nearby! Secretly, Brendan visits Ed DeBose, whose skin is pink, not brown like Brendan's, his dad's, or that of Grampa Clem's, who recently died. Brendan sets out to find the reason behind Ed's absence, but what he discovers can't be explained by science, and now he wishes he'd never found him at all. . . .
Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    5 hours and 16 minutes
  2. Author
    Sundee T. Frazier
  3. Narrator
    Mirron Willis
  4. Audible release date
    September 16, 2008
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Listening Library
  7. ASIN
    B001G8MAQW
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
Next page

Read & Listen

Switch between reading the Kindle book & listening to the Audible audiobook with Whispersync for Voice.
Get the Audible audiobook for the reduced price of $7.49 after you buy the Kindle book.
Now Available
Hear Stephen Fry's iconic performance of the Harry Potter series. Listen now

Product details

Listening Length 5 hours and 16 minutes
Author Sundee T. Frazier
Narrator Mirron Willis
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date September 16, 2008
Publisher Listening Library
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B001G8MAQW
Best Sellers Rank #334,278 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#330 in Black & African American Stories for Children
#806 in Geography & Cultures for Children
#1,139 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Prejudice & Racism

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
45 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

ERumma
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it...couldn't put it down!!
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2007
Verified Purchase
I just finished reading this book. I loved it! I felt like I was in the characters' world. It's like they are people I now know. I miss them already. Frazier does a great job developing her characters. My favorite characters are Brendan and Gladys, his grandmother.

I can't wait to read it with my sons or have them read it themselves. I look forward to the good discussions we'll have about it. I could see it being read in a 4th/5th grade classroom to open a discussion about prejudice and racism, which I think is very important to do. Frazier handles the fragile issues of racism and family in a way that you have sympathy for all who are involved.

To balance out the more serious issues, there are many humorous moments that kids would relate to and laugh outloud about. I highly recommend tis book!
10 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
M. Mcdowell
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book with great life lessons!
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is not a book to be raced through just to finish it. It requires thoughtfulness and may make you uncomfortable with your own feelings and those of some of the book's characters. Great life lessons taught, though. Excellent book for young and old alike!
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
TeensReadToo
4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2007
Brendan Buckley is into Tae Kwon Do and studying rocks. He would love to be a scientist and faithfully keeps a notebook with important questions and findings. During the summer, Brendan plans on becoming a rock collector. And he is trying to adjust to losing his best fishing buddy, Grandpa Clem.

When looking at a mineral and gemstone exhibit, he meets a man who has awesome rocks and who knows a TON about rocks and minerals. His Grandma Gladys sees the man and yanks Brendan away. Well, what are the odds of this? That man was actually his other grandpa. A man he had never met. And is told to never see again.

Although Brendan doesn't really want to disobey his parents, he wants to know this mystery man. Maybe he could help fill the void left by Grandpa Clem's death. Maybe this other grandpa could teach him about rocks. Maybe he could get to know him and find out why his mom has nothing to do with him.

As Brendan sets out to get to know this man, he has no idea what kind of trouble he may be stirring up.

Sundee T. Frazier has created a likable young boy with unique interests and love for his family. Readers will enjoy his adventures and see past generations with new awareness.

Reviewed by: Dianna Geers
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Book Lover
5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating and fun!
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2007
Verified Purchase
Brendan is such an inquisitive boy and that is what I like about him. I love Khalfani's name and the antic he plays on his little sister. And both of these boys seem so real because of the "boy" things they do together. I love the strong message of the importance of family and loving each other regardless of race.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Katrina Malkin
5.0 out of 5 stars If you want books your 2nd-6th grader will LOVE - buy any of the Global Reading Challenge books
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2015
Verified Purchase
Seattle Global reading challenge 2014 - the Seattle public librarians know how to pick 'em. If you want books your 2nd-6th grader will LOVE - buy any of the Global Reading Challenge books.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Melissa Koosmann
5.0 out of 5 stars All-around great book
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024
My 10-year-old was drawn to this book largely through the geology and science elements, I think. I appreciated the sensitive treatment of racial issues. We both loved it, and we're still talking about it.
Helpful
 Report
Bradley D
2.0 out of 5 stars Not For Us
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2017
Verified Purchase
I bought this for my son who is biracial, thinking it would interesting for him to read a book with a character whose family makeup was similar to his. I thought the book would be a celebration of diversity and family, but it is not. It is divisive, not at all what I expected. The content overshadows the writing for me. I think a great opportunity was missed here.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
R. Mcgregor
3.0 out of 5 stars Great writing, but...
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2010
I thought the book was very well written. Brendan was a very engaging character and his family was very authentic. When I read the book to some fourth graders, they cracked up at Gladys and they loved Brendan's interactions with his friend Khalfani. The emotional sections with Ed and Brendan were very engaging.

That said, let me add this: It wasn't until my boy was 9 years old that I even brought up the subject of race. I didn't happen because someone had said something rude, it was because some politician was complaining about someone else being a racist. I work in a Title I school where there is a huge mix of racials groups.

When my child was 6,7,8 it never once occurred to him that people of different races didn't like each other. He had never seen an example of it. I had to tell him what racism was. I did. What if we just stopped talking and accusing and blaming and mentioning race for a whole generation? If everyone did it, then it would lose it's place in our society. Who was the 23rd president of the US? What is the 58th element of the periodic table? What is the largest city in Idaho? Things we dont' talk about constantly get forgotten. You could say, you don't know my situation, but I bet hardly anywhere is the situation as bad as it was 30 years ago. We keep pushing tolerance and racism awareness on our children -- so they know about it, and they know how to do it, and they know if they want to be bad they can be racist. If a child of another race bothers them, they now know a really mean word to say...

That's what holds me back on this book. Brendan is mixed, and of course he is the target of racism, much more than the real world. When people are racist in the real world, they do it because they are mean people and have learned how to be mean racially. There are so few people out there that actually think white people are better than black people. However they are so many people out there that like to be mean and hateful.

On the other hand, Gladys puts down white people, winks at the mom and says "no offense" -- huh? The Buckley family keep wondering how white people hate black people -- huh? These are both reverse racial stereotypes that are "expected" -- and guess what -- they are also being "taught" to our kids by this book, since that behavior is never potrayed as racist.

You want racism to go away? Quit talking about it. Don't tell your kids that everyone is equal, they already think that since no one has told them differently.

The problem is there is too much political and financial capital in constantly bringing up racism. -- so everyone does it.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

gussy10
4.0 out of 5 stars decent book reflecting race from a kids point of view
Reviewed in Canada on December 17, 2013
Verified Purchase
Decent book that questions race and in the complexity of interracial marriages. Plot not overly exciting, but a great reflection on racial tension from a kids point of view.
Report