Tyo delivers a mic drop of a performance.
Ambrosia Lee is an actress. Well, a former actress. She’s still in high school, and already she’s lost roles because of her body type. Narrator Shannon Tyo handles Ambrosia’s adversities with a voice that sounds like an eye roll: casually comedic. Ambrosia is not the type to wallow, and she quickly finds a new passion in stand-up comedy. Tyo delivers Ambrosia’s jokes with confidence and sarcasm, adding levity to the animosity among the predominantly male crowd that sometimes greets these jokes. At home, Tyo deftly captures Ambrosia’s experience as an Asian American and the child of divorced parents. On the screen, stage, and page, Ambrosia shines. Listeners hoping for an encore are in luck: Author Park narrates notes on stand-up at the end.
Tyo delivers a mic drop of a performance. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 28, 2026
Duration: 6 hrs, 11 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217295326
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
Al-Kaisi’s performance reflects Asad’s gradual transformation, making his growth and his hopeful next steps...
Seventeen-year-old Asad is the eldest of seven children living and working in a Gazan refugee camp. Asad’s father is in prison, and the family lives in poverty with no possibility of relief. This audiobook’s power lies in Asad’s poignant inner monologues. Fajer Al-Kaisi’s narration immerses listeners in Asad’s desolation and overwhelming sense of responsibility. Al-Kaisi’s renderings of Asad’s conversations with Um Fawzi, a frank and wise elderly woman, depict both her caring and the vividness of her journeys beyond Gaza. Houriya is an erudite young woman who expands Asad’s worldview with well-chosen books.
Al-Kaisi’s performance reflects Asad’s gradual transformation, making his growth and his hopeful next steps believable. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: June 16, 2026
Duration: 3 hrs, 27 mins
DD ISBN: 9798898852153
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
Listeners will be inspired by this principled prime minister who tackled her country’s biggest challenges with...
Aspiring leaders, take note! In her Kiwi accent, Jacinda Ardern narrates this heartfelt and sincere adaptation of her memoir A Different Kind of Power, eliciting chuckles with amusing anecdotes and tears over tragedies. Ardern recounts her modest childhood, her unlikely path to politics, and her rise to New Zealand’s highest office as a young, pregnant, unmarried woman—armed with empathy, intelligence, faith, supportive loved ones, and a desire to serve. She shepherded her country through a volcanic eruption, Covid-19, and a mass shooting. Her heartrending narration of the shooting switches to steely resolve as she works to ban assault rifles.
Listeners will be inspired by this principled prime minister who tackled her country’s biggest challenges with kindness. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2026
Duration: 5 hrs, 55 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217342044
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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