Heartwood. The full-strength audio story library.
Full-Strength Audio Stories. Built for the Child Who Wants the Real Thing.
When kids outgrow early audio, most stories get shrunk down: classics cut in half, faith reduced to a closing lecture, stories metered out card by card. Heartwood is built for what comes next. The classics constructed as ladders that climb to the unabridged book. Full-cast faith drama where belief moves the plot. One price for the whole library. Founding families take the first year for $79, renewing at $99, when the library opens to new members by December 31. Every membership starts with a 14-day trial when the library opens, with the price, renewal date, and cancel path shown before you sign up.
One scene from each shelf, hearable right now. On the classics shelf: Treasure Island, Chapter 1, the retelling for ages 8-10 (10:27). On the faith shelf: Joseph, Episode 1, full-cast drama for ages 8-12 (17:03), from Genesis 37. Press play and judge the production with your own ears.
The Shrunk-Down Story Ends Here
Too many stories for growing kids get shrunk down. Classic books get cut to half their length. Faith drama stops cold so an adult can explain the moral at the end. And stories get metered out one card, one figurine, one credit at a time.
Full strength is the alternative. The real classic, climbed rung by rung to the unabridged book. Faith that moves the plot, with the meaning left inside the story. And the whole library under one price, with nothing sold by the unit.
Five doors into one library. Pick the job you're hiring us for.
- The real books, at every level.Treasure Island and the rest of the classics, written from the first rung to the unabridged top. She starts where she is and climbs inside the same story.
- Stories where faith moves the plot.Originals, heroic series, and Bible dramas on one labeled shelf beside the classics.
Nothing to buy one at a time.One price opens the whole library on the phones, tablets, and speakers a family already owns.
Give a year, pick the day it arrives.Twelve months for $99, paid once, no auto-renew, and a message in their inbox on the morning you choose.
One library for several ages.The classics ladder beside the faith shelf, with age bands on every title. Different readers, same story, one price.
Two shelves. One price.
The Classics Shelf, and the Faith Shelf Beside It
Two labeled shelves. One membership.
The classics shelf is open to every family, and it's built on the ladder. Treasure Island, chapter 1, written at ages 6-8, 8-10, 11-14, and unabridged at the top. She meets the story at the rung she can hold and climbs toward the full book in the same named world. Two rungs are voiced today: the 8-10 retelling (10:27, playing above) and the unabridged chapter, the complete book at the top of the same ladder. The younger and middle rungs are written, and they voice as the library opens.
Beside it, the faith shelf: originals, heroic series, and full-cast Bible drama where faith moves the plot and nobody stops to explain it afterward. The Bible drama is built to carry the whole story as one connected history. Season one is live: Joseph, six voiced episodes, from Genesis 37, full cast.
Is this a Christian app? The shelves answer that. The classics shelf is literature, open to any family. The faith shelf is labeled faith, and it's easy to find if you want it. One price covers both. You never pay by the shelf, by the card, or by the episode.
One Price for the Whole Library
When the library opens: $99 a year. That's $8.25 a month. Or $9.99 a month if you'd rather go month to month. One membership covers both shelves, every rung, and every series.
Founding families take the first year for $79, then $99 at renewal. The founding price is there for new members who join by December 31, and it's gone after that. The renewal price is stated here, up front, before you ever see a signup screen.
Every membership starts with a 14-day trial when the library opens. Before you sign up, you'll see the price, the renewal date, and how to cancel.
Until the doors open, the library is playing on this page and on the listen page. Everything we've made is hearable right now, and you can judge the production before the price means anything.
- The whole library, both shelves. Nothing bought one card, one figure, one credit at a time.
- Founding families: $79 for the first year, then $99 at renewal, for new members who join by December 31 when the library opens. Renewal price stated up front.
- 14-day trial when the library opens, with the price, renewal date, and cancel path shown before signup.
- Both lead scenes are hearable right now. Press play before you pay anything.
Hear the Difference a Rung Makes
Chapter 1 is playing below at the 8-10 rung (10:27). Above it sits the unabridged chapter, the complete book at the top of the same ladder. Same sea-dog, same "Yo-ho-ho," waiting one rung up. The unabridged rung is the full text, the ceiling of the same climb.
The listen page carries every sample we've made, oldest first: Joseph, Episode 1 (17:03, ages 8-12, full cast), Treasure Island, Chapter 1 (10:27, ages 8-10, one narrator), The Old Candle, Part 1 (11:18, ages 6-8, storyteller and four voices), Christian and the Heavy Bag (7:30, ages 3-6, storyteller and four voices), and All Here (6:26, ages 3-5, storyteller and two voices). Press play.
Fair Questions
What can we actually hear today?
Two complete scenes play on this page: Treasure Island, Chapter 1 at the 8-10 rung (10:27) and Joseph, Episode 1 (17:03, ages 8-12, full cast, from Genesis 37).
The listen page carries the rest, oldest first: The Old Candle, Part 1 (11:18, ages 6-8), Christian and the Heavy Bag (7:30, ages 3-6), and All Here (6:26, ages 3-5).
Chapter 1 of Treasure Island is written at four levels: ages 6-8, 8-10, 11-14, and unabridged. Two are voiced today, the 8-10 retelling and the unabridged. The other rungs voice as the library opens.
LibriVox and the library apps are free. Why pay?
Public libraries are one of the great inventions, and free volunteer recordings do real good. What free doesn't hold in one place is the ladder: the same classic at her level now and the unabridged book as the top rung, in one consistent production, beside original full-cast worlds.
What does it cost?
When the library opens: $99 a year, which is $8.25 a month, or $9.99 a month. Founding families take the first year for $79, then $99 at renewal, for new members who join by December 31. Renewal price stated up front. One price covers both shelves and every rung. Every membership starts with a 14-day trial, with the price, renewal date, and cancel path shown before signup.
What do we need in order to listen?
Plays on the phones, tablets, and speakers a family owns. No player to buy, no cards.
How does the founding price work?
When the library opens, founding families take the first year for $79, then $99 at renewal. The founding price is there for new members who join by December 31, and it's gone after that. The renewal price sits on the same screen as the signup, before you consent to anything. Every membership starts with a 14-day trial, with the price, renewal date, and cancel path shown before you sign up.
Why Heartwood exists
I'm Brian Bigelow, and Heartwood is made by Avenor Operating Ventures LLC. I built it for my own kids. On Nov 8, my nine-year-old and my six-year-old heard the first chapter of Treasure Island. They asked for the whole book. So that's the library I'm building now: classics built as ladders, starting with Treasure Island (the level that fits now, the full book on the top rung) and full-cast worlds in between.
Brian Bigelow, founder
The Library Opens Soon. The Stories Are Ready Now.
Full-strength stories stretch a child's imagination instead of talking down to it. Hear it above: Treasure Island, Chapter 1 (10:27) and Joseph, Episode 1 (17:03), one scene from each shelf.
When the library opens: $99 a year ($8.25 a month) or $9.99 a month. Founding families take the first year for $79, then $99 at renewal, renewal price stated up front, for new members who join by December 31. Every membership starts with a 14-day trial, with the price, renewal date, and cancel path shown before you sign up.
Until the doors open, the library is playing. Every sample we've made is on the listen page, oldest first, and the price it will open at is written above.
When the library opens: $99/year ($8.25/month) or $9.99/month. Founding families: $79 first year, then $99, renewal price stated up front, for new members who join by December 31. 14-day trial, with price, renewal date, and cancel path shown before signup.