Jenna Lamia's performance radiates warmth and humor. Stella, age 11, has been on Cape Cod for a few months with her great-aunt Louise. Angel, a foster kid who hates everything, has just moved in. When Aunt Louise suddenly dies, Stella and Angel elect not tell anyone. Neither has had good experiences with the authorities in the past. Lamia voices Stella as innocent and heartbreakingly open. Angel's voice oscillates between bitter and bemused as the girls grow closer. The register of their voices is similar, but the diction, as well as the cadence Lamia uses for each, is as different as the girls themselves. It's a good thing the girls are different. To survive the summer, they need each other's strengths.
Ages 8+Pub Date: 2013
Duration: 6 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780804121255
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Narrator Sunny Lu creates a passionate voice for seventh grader Luna in this coming-of-age realistic fiction. Luna leaves her introverted life behind when she becomes a bibliotherapist for her fellow classmates, recommending books to help them in times of need and eventually writing her own zines with the assistance of her best friend, Scott. Lu perfectly captures Luna's complex emotions as she abandons Scott and joins the popular group. Now rather than writing to help others, she starts to hurt others by writing about their faults and flaws in "fix-its." Listeners will relate to Luna's struggles as she loses her way and will cheer her on in hopes that she finds her way back.
(Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: 2026
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217081578
Publisher: Listening Library
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: 2026
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217080861
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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