The Best New Audiobooks for Teens Selected by AudioFile Magazine for The Children’s Book Review
The Best New Audiobooks for Teens
AudioFile is highlighting five excellent new Earphones Award-winning audiobooks for teen listeners this month. Audiobooks are a great way to stay engaged and entertained with literature all year round, but especially in the summer. Each of the audiobooks below makes for perfect summer listening.
And AudioFile is celebrating audiobooks all summer long with SYNC, our free audiobook program for teens! Visit audiobookSYNC.com to sign up and find out more about all of the free audiobooks available this year, including audiobooks from favorite authors like Alice Oseman and Lamar Giles.
Story by Becky Albertalli
Read by Caitlin Kinnunen
Harper Audio | 9.5 hrs. | Ages 14+ | AudioFile Earphones Award
Caitlin Kinnunen’s sweet narration will melt any listener. Imogen is the best straight ally a queer friend could ask for, always eager to support. When she visits her queer friend Lili at college, she discovers that in high school Lili falsely told friends that she and Imogen had dated. Lili needs to hold onto the facade, so Imogen goes along—but after meeting Lili’s charming, cute roommate, Tessa, Imogen begins to question her sexuality. Kinnunen’s narration is thoughtful and amiable, and she shapes Imogen’s journey of self-discovery into an unforgettable performance. Review »
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Story by Jonny Garza Villa
Read by Avi Roque
Macmillan Audio | 12.5 hrs. | Ages 14+ | AudioFile Earphones Award
Avi Roque gives a spirited, deeply emotional performance of this queer love story set in San Antonio. Nonbinary Mexican American teen Ander is taking a gap year before college, working at their family’s taqueria and focusing on their art. When they fall in love with Santi, an undocumented Mexican teen, it opens up their world in unexpected ways. Roque’s warm and musical narration is utter perfection. They capture Ander and Santi’s fear with vivid immediacy and also infuse their voices with bubbly happiness. This audiobook is a heartbreaking, joyful love letter to queer Latinx communities. Review »
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A superb ensemble of narrators brings this historical novel of familial love and racial oppression in 1930s Mississippi to life. Tyla Collier aptly voices Lamb’s hesitancy to befriend the daughter of the town’s racist optometrist. Ultimately, Lamb’s kindness has devastating consequences. Kevin R. Free voices Simeon, Lamb’s studious and protective brother, and their mother Marian, portrayed by Rebecca Lee in a nimble voice, is a hardworking closeted lesbian. The author narrates an addendum detailing her research for the setting. Review »
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Story by Justine Pucella Winans
Read by Vico Ortiz
Harper Audio | 10 hrs. | Ages 14+ | AudioFile Earphones Award
Vico Ortiz’s acting talent comes through with flying colors as they narrate this coming-of-age queer mystery. Ortiz deftly engages the listener with multiple distinct voices, and their narration brings the story to life as high schooler Bianca wrestles with gender identity and navigates their numerous fears, all while seeking to discover who murdered their neighbor. (Think Rear Window.) Making sense of what they witnessed through their telescope echoes the theme of making sense of their own place in the world.
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Story by Ari Tison
Read by Timothy Pabon and Alejandro Ruiz
OrangeSky Audio | 4.5 hrs. | Ages 14+ | AudioFile Earphones Award
A dual narration represents the alternating voices of two brothers, Jay and Max, each affected in a different way by their father’s physical abuse. But they unite to beat up the school soccer star who appears to be assaulting their cousin. Timothy Pabon delivers Jay’s thoughtful prose vignettes, expressing his sense of responsibility along with his feelings of fierce anger, fear, and loneliness. Pabon gives an excellent rendition of the Bribri words that color Jay’s thoughts. Alejandro Ruiz delivers the free-form poetry of Jay’s younger brother, Max. Bursts of language reveal Max’s fierce drive for self-protection, passion for art, and disregard for anything that could interfere with his determination to escape his trauma. Review »
This list of audiobooks was curated by AudioFile. AudioFile is an independent source of audiobook reviews and recommendations with a clear focus on the performance and listening experience. AudioFile Earphones Awards are given to exceptional audiobooks. To learn more, visit audiofilemagazine.com, Twitter @AudioFileMag, Facebook @audiofilemagazine, and Instagram @AudioFileBehindTheMicPodcast.
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