Hi! I’m Cathy Outten, and I’m the coordinator of the 2022 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults blogging team. I’ve served on several YALSA committees in the past. I’m the Children’s and Young Adult Literature librarian at California State University, Long Beach where I reside over our Children’s Collection. I live in sunny Southern California with my husband, three teenagers, a dog, and two cats.
The 2022 Amazing Audiobooks blogging team is working towards creating a list of excellent audiobooks that appeal to teens and reflect the diversity of teen readers. We are listening to fiction, nonfiction, single narrator, and cast recordings in search of books that meet our criteria of effective narration where the audio recording elevates a great story or nonfiction text.
Eligible titles for this year’s list must have US publication dates between September 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021. You can suggest titles for the committee to review by filling out this form. (Please note: publishers and authors cannot suggest their own books, although they are free to submit titles to the committee for evaluation by emailing cathy.outten@csulb.edu) You can see all the past Amazing Audiobook lists and nominations on The Hub.
The Amazing Audiobooks team works together via online discussions and meetings to review 100-200 audiobooks per year. Once two team members agree, an audiobook becomes an official nomination and will be announced on The Hub. Team members write blog posts and annotations, and attend virtual meetings, but mostly there is lots of listening! The whole team listens to our nominations and votes for final inclusion on the full list and for the top ten at the end of the year.
The #AA2022 team is made up of YALSA member volunteers from different places and different types of libraries. This year’s team includes myself and:
- Rachel Adams – Seattle, WA
- Candace Fox – Parma, OH
- Annie Jansen – Philadelphia, PA
- Jodeana Kruse – Ridgefield, WA
- Abigail Lance – Salem, MA
- Christine Pyles – Euclid, OH
- Lorrie Roussin – San Antonio, TX
- Caitlyn Seale – Mississauga, ON
- Josie Snow – Pagosa Springs, CO
Our committee is already listening hard and ready to start building a fantastic list of titles for the next Amazing Audiobooks list.
-Cathy Outten (she/her)
2022 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Coordinator