With youthful immediacy, Imani Parks narrates this slice-of-life story about a smart, well-behaved seventh-grader named Shayla. Shay hopes to avoid trouble as she navigates typical middle school rites of passage such as first crushes and shifting social dynamics. But after attending a Black Lives Matter protest with her family, she begins to consider her African-American identity in new ways, prompting her to risk the consequences of challenging an unjust school rule. By imbuing all of Shay's experiences with equal and unaffected sincerity, Parks ensures that listeners understand how deeply the personal and political intersect in Shay's life. She can be stressing about Snapchat pics one minute and confronting institutional racism the next. Tweens and families alike will be drawn into this affirming, thought-provoking audiobook.
(Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
Duration: 6 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9780062939241
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
While narrator Liam Aiken evokes the wistful, dolorous tone of Snicket’s second mystery in his All the Wrong Questions series, he fails to deliver Snicket’s signature snark with appropriate vigor. In this episode, the main character, 12-year-old Lemony Snicket, continues the investigations that began in STAIN’D BY THE SEA with the case of the missing chemist, Cleo Knight. As Aiken delivers Snicket’s declarative sentences in a deadpan voice, his remote reading keeps listeners distant from the story. Furthermore, Aiken does not always play up the quirks of the town’s eccentric characters. When he does use individualized voicings, the story shakes off its languidness to some degree. Aiken’s melancholy narration echoes Snicket’s loneliness but doesn’t enliven the recording for young listeners. An attached PDF file includes the character Seth’s illustrations.
(Mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
Duration: 4 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781478924845
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Jeff Harding voices the many impactful moments of 1919 in this engaging nonfiction audiobook. From women activists fighting for the right to vote to the Red Scare and civil rights riots, Sandler draws parallels to today's social issues. Harding matches 1919's cadence with a forward-moving pace. He uses different accents for quotations, though the women and people of color might have been better served with a diverse cast. The asides and timelines that appear in the text also are in the audio. Full of fascinating stories put into a modern context, this audiobook offers much to learn about an eventful year and ponders the big questions of our current time.
(Nonfiction. 11-16)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2020
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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