Almarie Guerra – The Hub

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2021) Nominees Round Up, December 30 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko; Narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: August 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1094149189

Tarisai has grown up living a privileged life surrounded by tutors, luxury, and protection in her realm, but she has never received love and closeness from anyone around her. She especially longs for attention from her mother, called The Lady. At 11 years old, Tarisai is sent to Oluwan City to compete for inclusion on Crown Prince Ekundayo’s governing Council of Eleven. If chosen, she will bond eternally with Prince Dayo and her Council siblings via a mystical Ray, and gain the human closeness she so craves. But Tarisai learns that before she was born, The Lady commanded a djinn to impregnate her with a child who must someday grant her third wish. Tarisai is that child. And The Lady’s third wish is to kill the prince Tarisai is now sworn to protect.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2021) Nominees Round Up, July 29 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Burn by Patrick Ness; narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt
HarperAudio
Release date: 06-02-20
ISBN: 978-1094167534

In 1950’s rural Washington state, mixed race Sarah’s father hires a dragon as a last ditch attempt to save their farm. Meanwhile she doesn’t realize she is the coming end of an ancient dragon prophecy. Meanwhile a boy trained to be her assassin is on his way, and the local policeman has his cruel eye on her and her Japanese boyfriend.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2021) Nominees Round Up, March 25 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

145th Street: Short Stories Anniversary Edition by Walter Dean Myers; Narrated by Brandon Gill, Almarie Guerra, Johnny Heller, Dominic Hoffman, Sullivan Jones, JaQwan J. Kelly, Adenrele Ojo, Paula Parker, Heather Alicia Simms, Bahni Turpin
Listening Library
Publication Date: January 14, 2020
ISBN: 9780593119662

This book of short stories follows the residents of 145th Street in Harlem as they live their daily lives and face a variety of conflicts. While they could be read and enjoyed as individual stories, they are interconnected to be read as fluidly as a novel. The characters learn about family, love, and community. Some face situations that could be pulled out of modern headlines, like gang threats and police brutality.

First published in 2000, the audiobook of this twentieth anniversary edition includes many great narrators, perfectly paired with their respective stories. The audiobook includes additional content after the stories, including a Q&A with the author about his writing, information about Harlem, and tributes to Walter Dean Myers and his legacy, written by popular children’s and young adult authors.
Fans of Jason Reynolds and Angie Thomas will enjoy these short stories, and there are echoes of Myers work in Reynolds Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks. For readers who enjoy their fiction in short, quick bursts, this audiobook will be just right, and those who want more of the community feeling might want to pick up Jacqueline Woodson’s Harbor Me next.

–Tara Williams