Clara’s Verdict
The Stella Batts series has a particular gift: it takes the interior life of a third-grader utterly seriously, without ever condescending to its young audience. In Pardon Me, Book 3 of the series, Stella faces the very grown-up problem of losing her best friend to a house move, and then navigating the delicate social arithmetic of making a new one. Courtney Sheinmel writes with a light touch that doesn’t shy away from the genuine sadness of childhood transitions, and narrator Cassandra Morris brings Stella to life with the energy and slight self-importance that makes the character so endearing. At just under an hour and forty minutes, this is perfectly sized for a car journey or bedtime routine.
About the Audiobook
Published by Audible Studios, Pardon Me is the third book in Courtney Sheinmel’s Stella Batts series for young readers. Stella is in third grade, her parents own a wonderful candy shop, and she wants to be a writer — which means she approaches everything in her life with the instinct to narrate and record it. When her best friend Willa moves away, the gap feels enormous. The arrival of Evie, the new girl who also needs a best friend, seems to solve everything — until school actually starts and best-laid plans unravel in ways that are painfully recognisable to anyone who has navigated childhood friendship. The series uses « big » vocabulary words that Stella explains as she goes, giving young listeners a model for engaging with language rather than skipping past it.
The Narration
Cassandra Morris narrates the Stella Batts series, and she has clearly found the character’s voice across the full run. Morris captures Stella’s blend of optimism and mild self-dramatisation — the quality that makes an eight-year-old’s social concerns feel genuinely high-stakes within the world of the book. The 1-hour-37-minute runtime is ideally suited to the attention spans of the target audience, and Morris keeps the pace engaging throughout.
What Readers Say
The series holds a 4.6 rating from 193 reviews — impressive figures for a children’s series. « The stories are mostly funny, sometimes a little sad, but always with happy endings, » noted one reader. A grandparent described their nearly-7-year-old’s devotion: « She reads the books by herself and if she does not finish before bedtime, her parents let her finish in bed — then she turns out the light and falls asleep dreaming of Stella. » Another family noted they buy each book as soon as it’s released. The consensus across reviews is that the series sits in a sweet spot: engaging enough for independent readers, reassuring enough for anxious ones.
Who Should Listen?
The Stella Batts series is an excellent recommendation for girls aged roughly 6 to 9 who are transitioning from picture books to chapter books, or for children who want audio company while falling asleep. The themes — friendship, change, school, family — are universal, and the candy-shop setting adds a layer of wish-fulfilment that young readers find irresistible. Listen to Pardon Me on Audible UK and — if they love it — work through the full Stella Batts series from Book 1.
