Author/narrator Vaunda Micheaux Nelson presents this nostalgic story in verse, set in 1960s Pittsburgh. Listeners meet endearing 11-year-old Cooper Dale, who is hoping to shine in her all-white school. Emotive descriptions of her family's horrified reaction to the Kennedy assassination and her delight at the Beatles are realistic. Nelson flawlessly presents the family's warm interactions and Cooper's maturing as she finds she was misled about a teacher others had maligned. Most poignant is her questioning of others on how they cope with constant racism as she learns about forgiveness from her mother and teacher. Learning about Cooper's favorite books, historical figures, and poetry is especially enhanced in the audio format.
(Verse historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: 2025
Duration: 3 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217019076
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
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: 2025
Duration: 2 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217071289
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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