For immediate release | January 6, 2021

YALSA names 2021 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults

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CHICAGO – The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±app (), announced its .

The consists of 81 titles selected from 149 official nominations, which were posted and discussed in on . The list is aimed towards young adults aged 12-18 and is drawn from the previous year of spoken-word releases. The committee listened to over 400 titles this year in their quest to choose a myriad of audiobooks that would appeal to all subsects of the teen audience. the full .

In addition to the , the blogging team chose the following titles as its :

  • Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, read by Avi Roque, Macmillan Audio, 2020. 13 hours, 47 minutes. ISBN: 978-1-2506-1912-9.
  • Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, read by Melania-Luisa Marte and Elizabeth Acevedo. Quill Tree Books, 2020. 5 hours, 32 minutes. ISBN: 978-0-0630-1181-6.
  • A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Book 1 by Holly Jackson, read by Bailey Carr, Melissa Calin, Michael Crouch, Gopal Divan, Robert Fass, Kevin R. Free, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Carol Monda, Patricia Santomasso, Shezi Sardar and Amanda Thickpenny. Listening Library, 2020. 10 hours, 53 minutes. ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0.
  • Kent State by Deborah Wiles, read by Christopher Gebauer, Lauren Ezzo, Christina DeLaine, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, Korey Jackson, and David de Vries. Scholastic Audio, 2020.1 hour, 58 minutes. ISBN: 978-1-3386-3634-5.
  • Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt. Simon & Schuster Audio, 2020.18 hours, 54 minutes. ISBN : 978-1-5344-4160-6.
  • Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt. Blackstone Publishing, 2020. 13 hours, 48 minutes. ISBN: 978-1-0941-4916-5.
  • The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party by Allan Wolf, read by Bahni Turpin, Whitney Dykhouse, Teri Schnaubelt, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Lauren Ezzo, Eric G. Dove, Ramón de Ocampo, and Shaun Taylor-Corbett. Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, 2020. 9 hours, 54 minutes. ISBN: 978-1-7135-4797-6.
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-Winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, read by Jason Reynolds and introduction by Ibram X. Kendi. Little, Brown Young Readers, 2020. 4 hours, 11 minutes. ISBN: 978-1-5491-8425-3.
  • We Are Not Free by Traci Chee, read by Scott Keiji Takeda, Dan Woren, Ryan Potter, Ali Fumiko, Sophie Oda, Andrew Kishino, Christopher Naoki Lee, Grace Rolek, Erika Aishii, Brittany Ishibashi, Kurt Sanchez Kanazawa and Terry Kitagawa. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020. 10 hours and 26 minutes. ISBN: 978-1-0941-4584-6.
  • When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, read by Full Cast. Listening Library, 2020. 3 hours, 42 minutes. ISBN: 978-0-5931-6257-6.

The for the 2022 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults list is open. If you’d like to to the blogging team for consideration as a nominee, please fill out .

YALSA’s portfolio of helps strengthen library services for and with teens by identifying quality, age-appropriate resources for librarians and library workers to share with the teens in their communities. Learn more about YALSA’s other book and media lists .

Members of the 2021 Amazing Audiobooks Blogging Team are: Coordinator Danielle Jones (she/her), Multnomah County Library, Portland, Oregon; Rachel Adams (she/her), King County Library System, Issaquah, Washington; Emily Blaeser (she/her), Meinders Community Library, Pipestone, Minnesota; Jaimie Crawford (she/her), Loudoun County Public Library, Sterling, Virginia; Candace Fox (she/her), Cleveland, Ohio; Annie Jansen (she/her), Penn State Brandywine Vairo Library, Media, Pennsylvania; Gina Kromhout (she/her), Avon Lake Public Library, Avon Lake, Ohio; Kristin Kern (she/her), St. Charles City-County Library, St. Charles, Missouri; Natalie LaRocque (she/her), Palatine Public Library District, Palatine, Illinois; Heather Murfee (she/her), Midlothian Library, Midlothian, Virginia; Cathy Outten (she/her), California State University, Long Beach, California; Allison Suzanne Riendeau (she/her) Sharon Public Library, Sharon, Massachusetts; Beth A. Slade (she/her), Twinsburg Public Library, Twinsburg, Ohio; Kiera O'Shea Vargas (she/her), EPIPHANY, LLC, Nashville, Tennessee; and Tara Williams (she/her), Washington County Public Schools, Abingdon, Virginia.

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to , or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.

Contact:

Anna Lam

Communications Specialist

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

alam@ala.org