For sheltering in place — audiobooks voiced by Fil-Am Ramon de Ocampo
Filipino American audiobook narrator Ramon de Ocampo is working on Fil-Am author Randy Ribay’s Patron Saints of Nothing. INSTAGRAM
LOS ANGELES — Audiobook listeners on the lookout for titles written by Filipino Americans may also want to consider some that have also been narrated by a Filipino American.
Here are several, that range from children’s books to adult reading, by seasoned narrator Ramon de Ocampo, who has more than 200 audiobooks and more than 10 narration awards under his belt.’
He is familiar to television viewers in his roles on various shows such as “Guidance,” “Notorious,” “12 Monkeys,” “Medium,” and “The West Wing,” among many others. READ Ruben Nepales’ interview with De Ocampo here.
For his other works, you can search for his name on sites where audiobooks are sold. A reminder for parents: local public libraries and school libraries are may have audiobooks that can be borrowed online.
Special mentions:
By FH Batacan
In Filipino author Batacan’s mystery novel, two Catholic priests, an anthropologist and a psychologist, hunt through Manila for a brutal serial killer who is eviscerating preteen boys from the slums.
By Candy Gourlay
In Filipino British writer Candy Gourlay’s Middle Grade (MG) novel, Andi is short but loves basketball and wishes her long-lost half-brother could come and live with her in London. She gets more than what she wished for when the eight-feet tall Bernardo arrives from the Philippines, troubled by secrets.
By Candy Gourlay
Set in the late 1890s in a village deep in a Philippine jungle where two friends grapple with growing up and the arrival of invading, destructive Americans.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
By Jeff Kinney
De Ocampo has narrated all 14 books of the popular series about the adventures of sixth grader Greg Heffley, who has to deal with his two brothers, one annoying, the other obnoxious, well-meaning parents, and middle school.
By Karen Tei Samashita
De Ocampo voices all the Filipino manong—farm laborers—who live in the title single-room-occupancy hotel featured in this book of ten novellas about America’s struggle for civil rights.
By Ned Vizzini
The Broadway musical adaptation of this book (where high school junior Jeremy swallows a supercomputer in pill form that instructs him how to be cool) featured Fil-Am actor George Salazar in a feature role. Read about it here.
Titles by Filipino Americans:
By Carlos Bulosan
The classic semi-autobiographical novel by poet Bulosan describing his boyhood in the Philippines, voyage to America and years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer in the West Coast.
From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant
By Alex Gilvarry
Fiction. Boyet Hernandez is an up-and-coming fashion designer in Brooklyn who is mistakenly arrested on terrorism charges and sent to Guantanamo Bay prison. READ Pam Pastor’s interview with Alex Gilvarry here.
Edited by Jessica Hagedorn
By Gina Apostol, FH Batacan, et. al.
Noir short story collection—with Manila as the milieu—by Filipino American and Filipino writers.
By Erin Entrada Kelly
When basketball-loving Chet traps shy Virgil and his pet guinea pig in a well, it leads self-proclaimed psychic Kaori and her little sister Gen, and brave, deaf but secretly lonely Valencia on an epic quest to find the missing Virgil.
Filipino American author Erin Entrada Kelly’s book We Dream of Space is about three siblings anticipating the launch of space shuttle Challenger. INSTAGRAM
The Crafter series
By Outspan Foster
Epic fantasy. Ten year old orphan Wick wants money and power. Will he be able to get both with his father’s glass amulet, a trusty spade, and two level-one skills?
By Randy Ribay
Young Adult (YA). Bunny and Nasir’s friendship is tested when Bunny accepts a basketball scholarship across town.
By Randy Ribay
Filipino American teenagers Jay travels to the Philippines to find out how his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered because of the president’s war against drugs.
By Erin Entrada Kelly
In 1986, three siblings all in the same grade—each struggling with their own problems—works on science teacher Ms. Salonga’s project as the launch of space shuttle Challenger approaches. To be released in May.
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