This National Book Award finalist tells a quiet, somber story. Sam is a teenager with adult responsibilities. Her charming dad, a pastor, has all the answers to everyone else's troubles, but his professional commitments leave Sam to care for her alcoholic mother. Author Sara Zarr’s observant delivery evokes Sam’s feelings of self-pity and her sense of injustice. When a younger girl from their church disappears, her worry, as well as media attention that focuses on her friends and her father as suspects, sends her into a tailspin. Zarr’s portrayal of Sam depicts how hard being a teen can be. The author gives an intimate and searching performance of a young person too soon thrust into an adult world.
Ages 12+Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2009
Duration: 6 hrs, 45 mins
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Leila Buck narrates this haunting tale of Tareq, a teenage boy who is trying to escape the political turmoil in Syria. In Europe he hopes to find a better life for his family. The omniscient narration is provided by none other than Destiny, and Buck speaks with the regal cadence one would expect of such a lofty narrator. Destiny occasionally interjects philosophical musings on the nature of humanity, helping listeners relate even more deeply to Tareq's struggles. At times, the story verges on a thriller, particularly when Tareq has a run-in with a human trafficker and Buck injects tension into her otherwise carefully metered voice. This timely, powerful audiobook is sure to stoke empathy in its listeners.
. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2018
Duration: 6 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781980002789
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Shaun Taylor-Corbett and Kinsale Hueston give lively, animated performances in this fantasy celebrating friendship and the power of storytelling. Hueston voices Nina, a Lipan Apache teenager who is fascinated by her great-great-grandmother's stories about the time when the human world was joined with the spirit world. Taylor-Corbett voices Oli, an animal-person from the spirit world who takes the form of a cottonmouth snake who then shape-shifts into human form. While visiting earth in search of a cure for his sick friend, he meets Nina. Hueston's voice is bubbly and energetic, making Nina sound just like an excited teenager. Taylor-Corbett imbues his voice with an otherworldly wisdom, capturing both Oli's youth and his non-human magic.
(Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2021
Duration: 10 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781705045077
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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