Ringing school bells and squeaking sneakers augment a full cast as they dramatize the events of the author's seventh-grade year in small-town Texas. It's dominated by the cheer-squad tryout, but typical middle-school concerns--changing bodies and changing friendships--emerge, as well as issues particular to Christina's identity as the only Thai American student in her school. She experiences microaggressions and outright racism. As Christina, Grace Li shines amid the stellar cast. She emits exasperated sighs at every mispronunciation of her surname; expresses worries about fitting in; and bursts into joyful giggles with her Iranian American best friend, who also has an immigrant dad. For this adaptation of her graphic novel, Soontornvat provided a gracefully expanded narrative that ensures an immersive stand-alone listening experience. Gimme a W . . . for WINNER!
(Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023
Duration: 2 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781338876055
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
As the story opens with Christina's family eating out, the ensemble of narrators provides a realistic delivery. Later, believing that eighth grade will be her best year yet, Christina persuades her two best friends to try out for cheerleading, even after the heartbreak of not making the squad in their last attempt. Grace Li shines at conveying the wide range of emotions Christina navigates over the course of the year as she faces difficult challenges. These include the end of her parents' marriage and dealing with old and new friendships. Complications ensue when Christina makes the cheering squad, but neither of her friends does. The author's note illustrates the universality of the themes in this fictionalized memoir.
(Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
Duration: 2 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781546137184
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Author Shannon Hale narrates as a full cast enacts the drama of her sixth-grade year in this adaptation of the middle volume of her graphic memoir trilogy. Portraying young Shannon, Mia Jenness evokes excitement, uncertainty, and hurt--painfully and exquisitely--as she picks her way through a friendship minefield. Her circle of friends is not so fully individuated, with the other cast members playing multiple roles; the effect reinforces Shannon's sense of social isolation. A panoply of sound effects helps take listeners back to 1985, introducing them to such antique noises as a cassette tape clicking into place and a dot matrix printer at work. A boisterous conversation among Hale and her twin daughters, original to this production, connects then and now. An empathetic antidote to sixth grade.
. (Graphic memoir. 7-12)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
Duration: 3 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781250891716
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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