by Stackgirl Sarah

Tyler Johnson Was Here

by Jay Coles, read by JaQwan J. Kelly

This book is heavy, powerful and enlightening.  I met the author, Jay Coles, this summer at ALA and found him to be lovely and thoughtful and can’t wait to bring him to our school for students to meet (as a former middle school teacher, I think he’ll be a great speaker).  We talked about how he actually weighed in on the narrator of the audiobook; he ultimately picked JaQwan Kelly, an actor and rapper, and how well he felt the audiobook had turned out.

I too was incredibly impressed at JaQwan’s narration as he convincingly conveyed the narrator’s emotions from often tearful to full of rage and everything from hurt to anger in between.  

The subject matter is heavy, the poignant questions we are all struggling with these days are included and indeed this is an important book to put in the literature circles that include Dear Martin, The Hate U Give, and All American Boys.  The difference for Tyler is both the range of emotions and the many scenarios he endures from multiple incident of racism and police brutality to attending protests, working through grief, and more.  I was impressed by the amount in this slim book and the audio will really hook students and adults alike. Thanks Hachette Audio for delivering when I begged for this audiobook!

The Thief

by Megan Whalen Turner, read by Steve West

I am a huge fan of The False Prince (published 2012) series and also enjoyed the first Ranger’s Apprentice (published 2006).  I feel like this is quite similar, and although I saw the twist coming (perhaps because of having read False Prince) it was less of a reveal to me than to many.  However, still a good adventure, faraway lands type book, and, as it was published in 1996, I feel that both other series probably draw inspiration from Ms. Turner.  I hear the rest of the series get even better so I’m anxious to read them.

Thanks to HarperAudio for providing me with the 2017 audio with narrator Steve West; his reading was lovely in regards to bot his polished British accent and emphasized emotions from indignation to outrage.

They Both Die in the End

by Adam Silvera, read by Michael Crouch, Robbie Daymon and Bahni Turpin

My first Adam Silvera book, and  I worried it was going to be rather depressing; yet, while it was obviously sad at the end based on the title, the overall message was about the importance of living your best life every day. I truly love the premise which focuses on one bisexual boy and one gay boy who find each other- the story is lovely and genuine. This book reminded me at times of Denton Little’s Death Date by Lance Rubin  as the premise in both is that characters know when they will die, but this one isn’t truly a comedy. The three voices -Michael Crouch, Robbie Daymond and Bahni Turpin (surprise, she everywhere!) -were all fabulous and I loved the emotional range of each and how Bahni played multiple supporting characters, rather than having multiple extra narrators.  Bahni deliver such nuance to supporting characters; I continue to be in awe of her ability to make many different characters all unique. Finally, a fun fact-the lovely girl doing karaoke in the story was named Becky, and I think that is a nod to Adam’s writer BFF Becky Albertelli; they have a new book out with another HarperAudio entitled What If It’s Us, read by Noah Galvin and Froy Guttierez.  Thanks again to HarperAudio for letting me listen!

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

by Hank Green, read by Kristen Sieh and Hank Green

This book- excellent, weird, thought-provoking- I just can’t   sum it up in a good blurb. I appreciate the points made about social media, the nature of politics/celebrity, and branding. I appreciated Kristen Sieh’s reading of the book because, as the narrator admits in the story, she’s flawed and knows her actions had negative consequences, but also knows there wasn’t much she could do differently.  Kristen communicated that without being obnoxious, which is hard to do as she walking a narrow line of being both genuine and still likable.  I also appreciated that the main character is bisexual and that is normalized.  Ultimately, for anyone who is a fan of quirky thoughts, including those who like John Green, will like this book and the special bonus of the audio-Hank Green himself reads the last chapter as it’s told from a different perspective! Thanks to Listening Library Volumes App for including this audiobook-such a fun one!

Meet Cute: Some People Are Just Destined to Meet

by various authors including a personal favorite, Emery Lord, as well as amazing authors Nicola Yoon and Donielle Clayton and so many more, read by a who’s-who of impressive narrators

I cannot find a list of all the amazing narrators, but I will just say that everyone has an impressive narrator that fully conveys the beauty of each story.  I love short stories, and especially love them on audio because it is easy to concentrate on them for small snippets of time.  I love that this list is pretty darn diverse both in authors as well as in love story pairings from heterosexual to homosexual and including a bit of bisexuality as well.

The stories are clean enough for middle school and definitely validating that all love stories are worth telling and that all people are worth their own love stories.