Young People's Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye is a warm and comforting guide though this collection of her poems. Just because these are poems for young listeners doesn't mean that they're not sophisticated. Nye reflects on everything from a lost, and found, Christmas present in "Yellow Glove" to travelers overcoming barriers of language and culture with kindness and sweets in "Gate A-4." Nye's father was Palestinian, and several poems explore Palestine's liminal state and the intimate losses Palestinians have experienced. The accessibility of the writing and of Nye's delivery makes for easy listening, but resist the urge to binge: These poems and ideas should be savored, pondered over, listened to again, and talked about together.
(Poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
Duration: 3 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063013483
Publisher: Harper Audio
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
Joey Florez juggles the many facets of this audiobook. Depicting seventh grader Alex Ramirez, a neurodivergent student, Florez honors both the character and the verse format of the story. He gives his narration a definitive rhythm. Periodically, Ramirez uses fluid Spanish that reflects Alex's heritage and adds another rhythm to the narration. Alex has been in an SC (self-contained) classroom since a third-grade conflict landed a former friend in the hospital. Florez's narration reveals Alex's intelligence and curiosity, frustration with the limitations on his learning and with bullying, passion for space, and determination to escape his narrow bounds and enter a mainstream science class, his first step in attaining his dreams.
(Verse fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
Duration: 2 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217071289
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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