Listen up audiobook fans ! It’s the end of the year which means it’s time to announce AudioFile’s 2022 Best Young Adult. Don’t forget to check out all of AudioFile’s 2022 Best Audiobooks. 🎧📚
AIN’T BURNED ALL THE BRIGHT
by Jason Reynolds | Read by Jason Reynolds, Nile Bullock, Tatum Marylin Hall, JaQwan J. Kelly, DePre Owens [Simon & Schuster Audio | 37 mins.]
How do you create an amazing audiobook from an illustrated novel in which the vibrant art takes center stage? Record two takes: one deftly narrated by Reynolds himself, and the second voiced by an outstanding cast.
AudioFile Earphones Award
REVIEW: https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/211710/
ALL MY RAGE
by Sabaa Tahir| Read by Deepti Gupta, Kamran R. Khan, Kausar Mohammed [Listening Library | 10.5 hrs.]
A stellar trio of narrators delivers the alternating viewpoints in this superb contemporary novel and National Book Award-winner set in California’s desert. Grief and loss paint narrator Kamran R. Khan’s voice as he portrays Salahudin, who fears the loss of his mother and the breakdown of his friendship with Noor.
AudioFile Earphones Award
REVIEW: https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/211863/
BREATHE AND COUNT BACK FROM TEN
by Natalia Sylvester| Read by Frankie Corzo [Harper Audio | 9.25 hrs.]
Frankie Corzo delivers a satisfying and beautiful performance with her heartfelt and nimble narration. Peruvian-American teenager Veronica has hip dysplasia; being in the water is the only way she feels relief. She longs to become a mermaid performer—but her parents don’t approve.
AudioFile Earphones Award
REVIEW: https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/214701/
THE HONEYS
by Ryan La Sala| Read by Pete Cross [Scholastic Audiobooks | 10.5 hrs.]
Narrator Pete Cross delivers a compelling performance of this supernatural thriller filled with secrets and emotional twists and turns at a summer camp full of surprises—and the not-so-sweet Honeys.
AudioFile Earphones Award
REVIEW: https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/220096/
THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD
by Tiffany D. Jackson| Read by JD Jackson, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Joy Nash, Christopher Salazar, Karen Malina White [Harper Audio | 11 hrs.]
Versatile narrators effectively differentiate interwoven characters’ perspectives in this retelling of Stephen King’s CARRIE. Maddy, a timid biracial teen who is bullied at school, has secret psychic powers that explode on prom night with disastrous consequences.
AudioFile Earphones Award
REVIEW: https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/216419/
WHAT SOULS ARE MADE OF
by Tasha Suri| Read by Alex Williams, Becca Hirani [Macmillan Audio | 8.25 hrs.]
Alex Williams and Becca Hirani give impassioned performances in a captivating retelling of Emily Brontë’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Suri’s adaptation gives listeners perspectives on the minds of two teenagers who are desperately in love, while also delving into their backstories and underscoring the impact of British colonization.
AudioFile Earphones Award
REVIEW: https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/219026/
