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Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2022) Nominations Round-Up, Summer

Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults 2022 nominees cover art — Due to the large number of nominees, not all titles are shown here. See full list below.

Each quarter, the Selected Lists teams compile the titles that have been officially nominated to date. These are titles that have been suggested by the team or through the title suggestion form, read by multiple members of the team, and received approval to be designated an official nomination. At the end of the year, the final list of nominations and each Selected List’s Top Ten will be chosen from these titles.

*Prices shown are for Library Digital Download.

Between Perfect and Real. By Ray Stoeve. Read by MW Cartozian Wilson. Recorded Books, LLC/Recorded Books, Inc., $70 (9781705028339).

Dean is a trans guy struggling with coming out to his friends and family. Exploring the internet and joining community groups allows him to more clearly define himself while acting as Romeo in a play helps his self discovery. Wilson’s voice is well matched and he skillfully narrates this emotional story.

Black Girl, Call Home. By Jasmine Mans. Read by Jasmine Mans. Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group/Penguin Audio, $22.80 (9780593346884).

Mans calls herself and other Black girls home in this love letter and essential companion to girls and women on a journey to find truth, belonging, and healing. Mans narrates this powerful and painful collection with many poems read and produced in unique ways.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2022) Nominations Round-Up, Summer

Each quarter, the Selected Lists teams compile the titles that have been officially nominated to date. These books have been suggested by the team or through the title suggestion form, read by multiple members of the team, and received approval to be designated an official nomination. At the end of the year, the final list of nominations and each Selected List’s Top Ten will be chosen from these titles.

Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre. By Alverne Ball. Art by Stacey Robinson. Abrams/Megascope, $15.99 (9781419755170).

Greenwood—also known as Black Wall Street—was a bustling district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with many successful Black-owned businesses. In 1921, a white mob descended on Greenwood, destroying businesses and devastating the community. One hundred years later, Across the Tracks pays homage to Greenwood.

Alone. By Megan E. Freeman. 2020. Penguin Random House/Crown, $17.99 (9780593176399).

Maddie finds herself completely, totally alone when she wakes up from a secret sleepover and discovers that everyone was evacuated overnight from her town, her state, and maybe her whole half of the country. She has to survive natural disasters, the elements, looters, wild animals, and her own crushing loneliness.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2022) Featured Review of Muted by Tami Charles

Muted by Tami Charles
Scholastic Press / Scholastic Inc.
Publication Date: February 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1338673524

Denver and her best friends are taken under the wing of music legend Sean “Mercury” Jones aka Merc to become the next big thing, but at what price? As Merc becomes more controlling and cuts the girls off from family and friends, will they even make it out alive?

Muted flows from the first page with verse that feels like lyrics to a song (not including the song or two that is included). Readers will immediately be hooked by Denver and her dreams of music stardom. Then, what at first seems like an inspiring read about friends making music, quickly turns sinister as Merc takes control, further calling readers to race through to see how everything plays out. Each section reads quickly with plenty of white space to help with the overall flow of the book, but does not lessen the overall emotional impact of emotional abuse that is ripped from the headlines.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2022) Featured Review of Don’t Stand So Close to Me by Eric Walters

Don’t Stand So Close to Me by Eric Walters
Orca Book Publishers
Publication Date: September 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1459827875

Eighth graders Quinn, Isaac, and Reese are excited about their upcoming spring dance, preparing for tests and projects, and planning their spring breaks in March 2020 when the developing COVID-19 pandemic changes things. Their families are affected in key ways and the students shift to online classes. As they’re all feeling disconnected and strange, Quinn has an idea for a way to bring her friends and the community together.

#QP2019 Nominees Round Up, July 31 Edition

Like Vanessa by Tami Charles
Charlesbridge
Publication Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 1580897770

It’s 1983 and the first black woman has just been crowned Miss America.

Thirteen-year-old Vanessa wishes she could be beautiful and confident like Vanessa Williams. At home, she struggles with an absent mother, a distant father, and a grandfather who loves her but loves the bottle more. So when Vanessa’s choir teacher encourages her to use her beautiful voice to compete in the middle school’s beauty pageant, Vanessa must face the most difficult relationship in her life: herself.

Continue reading #QP2019 Nominees Round Up, July 31 Edition