An ensemble cast brings listeners to Zora Neale Hurston Airport, where bad weather grounds four preteens who are traveling home with their families from the Muslims of North America conference. Animal lover Hanna, aspiring poet Feek, NokNok influencer Nora, and martial artist Sami take turns recounting the events that occur when Hanna recruits them to help search for a lost cat. Each kid is a carefully developed individual whose complex emotional interiority emerges in thoughtful vocal performances. A key secondary character, however, Feek's sister, Ruqi, a 4-year-old dynamo, is denied this. She's infantilized with an overly babyish characterization, primarily by Amir Abdullah, whose baritone is particularly unsuited to the challenge. Annoying little sister aside, there's much to enjoy.
(Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798350815764
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Narrator Sunny Lu creates a passionate voice for seventh grader Luna in this coming-of-age realistic fiction. Luna leaves her introverted life behind when she becomes a bibliotherapist for her fellow classmates, recommending books to help them in times of need and eventually writing her own zines with the assistance of her best friend, Scott. Lu perfectly captures Luna's complex emotions as she abandons Scott and joins the popular group. Now rather than writing to help others, she starts to hurt others by writing about their faults and flaws in "fix-its." Listeners will relate to Luna's struggles as she loses her way and will cheer her on in hopes that she finds her way back.
(Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217081578
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
It's 1975, and eleven-year-old Gao Sheng, a Hmong girl, is living in the highlands of Laos in a one-room house with her family. Then they are forced to flee. Narrator Robyn Morales lends a soft, feminine huskiness to the protagonist's voice as she describes the family's journey to a refugee camp, to gentle and thoughtful effect. The listener is transported alongside Gao Sheng to a new world as she reflects on memory, gender, and family relations in her culture; the events that change her life; and conditions in the refugee camp. An afterword provides context about the author's family's real-life experience. Morales' narration is comforting, even as she describes the difficult circumstances of refugees.
(Verse historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217080861
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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