Gilli Messer narrates this YA story of Afghan American teenager Mafi Shahin. Mafi struggles to right injustices as “The Ghost,” a secret avenger who addresses her high school classmates’ written pleas for help. Mafi soon discovers others in her life are also keeping secrets, specifically her basketball-playing crush and her father, who denies his Afghan heritage. What should you do when revealing your secrets and avenging wrongs may endanger those you love the most? Messer does an impressive job infusing Mafi with just the right amount of angst mixed with disgust at people’s behavior. Mafi’s struggle to find her place in her family and community is beautifully brought to life by Messer, who clearly remembers what it feels like to be a teenager.
(Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593664261
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Themes of inheritance, identity, sacrifice, and belonging resonate through three voices.
This multigenerational family story comes to life through an ensemble performance. After high schooler Dawn receives an assignment to interview her grandmother, she begins uncovering a family history that stretches from 19th-century China to Taiwan and then New York. Eunice Wong, Katharine Chin, and Kenneth Lee shift among generations with careful attention to rhythm, pitch, and emotional texture, making the transitions easy to follow. Their performances capture the family's guardedness over its old secretsas well as Dawn's curiosity as a young woman seeking answers. As the layers of the Chin family history emerge, the narrators maintain a strong sense of continuity across time.
Themes of inheritance, identity, sacrifice, and belonging resonate through three voices. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs, 42 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063238039
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2026
Rich language, relatable feelings, and powerful storytelling unite in this successful audiobook.
Acevedo moves listeners with her dramatic plot, poignant emotions, and fresh images as she soothes with her rhythmic, lyrical narration. Seventeen-year-old Liliana’s impulsiveness has landed her in the juvenile justice system. After Lil returns home and faces a court appearance, Acevedo conveys her shame for bringing turmoil to her loving Indigenous Salvadoran and Afro-Dominican family. Lil chafes against legal constraints that demand she live life cautiously, often against her own intuition, as she returns to school without her best friends or the support of her beloved older brother, Aldwin, who is away at college. Lil is worried about Aldwin’s instability, and this care puts her in a precarious position.
Rich language, relatable feelings, and powerful storytelling unite in this successful audiobook. (Verse fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
Duration: 5 hrs, 51 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063574236
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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