Lauren's Favorite Powerful Reads

The Last Karankawas

A Novel

By: Kimberly Garza
Narrated by: Adriana Sananes, André Santana, Becca Q. Co & Reggie De Leon
Length: 9 hours 16 minutes

“The Last Karankawas is a tribute to the people of Texas. Garza weaves together their strength and tenderness in an heartfelt prose. Read more

Sharks in the Time of Saviors

By: Kawai Strong Washburn
Narrated by: Tui Asau, G.K. Bowes, Kaleo Griffith & Jolene Kim
Length: 10 hours 37 minutes

“Night Marchers, gods, goddesses, and the dead all walk Hawaii with the Flores family, if only they can stop struggling to survive long enough to see them. At seven years old, Nainoa falls into the Pacific only to be brought back to his mother in the mouth of a shark, unharmed and now burdened with the rumor of legend. Noa struggles to... Read more

Just Mercy (Movie Tie-In Edition)

A Story of Justice and Redemption

By: Bryan Stevenson
Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
Length: 11 hours 10 minutes

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX • A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time.

“[Bryan Stevenson’s] dedication to fighting for justice... Read more

How We Can Win

Race, History and Changing the Money Game That's Rigged

By: Kimberly Jones
Narrated by: Kimberly Jones
Length: 6 hours 9 minutes

A breakdown of the economic and social injustices facing Black people and other marginalized citizens inspired by political activist Kimberly Jones' viral video, “How Can We Win.”

“So if I played four hundred rounds of Monopoly with you and I had to play and give you every dime that I made, and then for fifty years, every time that I played, if... Read more

Not "A Nation of Immigrants"

Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion

By: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Length: 12 hours 21 minutes

Debunks the pervasive and self-congratulatory myth that our country is proudly founded by and for immigrants, and urges readers to embrace a more complex and honest history of the United States

Whether in political debates or discussions about immigration around the kitchen table, many Americans, regardless of party affiliation, will say proudly... Read more

Year of the Tiger

An Activist's Life

By: Alice Wong
Narrated by: Nancy Wu
Length: 10 hours 37 minutes

This groundbreaking memoir offers a glimpse into an activist's journey to finding and cultivating community and the continued fight for disability justice, from the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project

In Chinese culture, the tiger is deeply revered for its confidence, passion, ambition, and ferocity. That same fighting... Read more

When We Make It

By: Elisabet Velasquez
Narrated by: Elisabet Velasquez
Length: 4 hours 6 minutes

"The energy. The clarity. The beauty. Elisabet Velasquez brings it all. . . . Her voice is FIRE!"—NYT bestselling and award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson
 
An unforgettable, torrential, and hopeful debut young adult novel-in-verse that redefines what it means to "make it,” for readers of Nicholasa Mohr and Elizabeth Acevedo.

Sarai is a... Read more

Cantoras

A novel

By: Carolina De Robertis
Narrated by: Carolina De Robertis
Length: 13 hours 37 minutes

"Cantoras is a stunning lullaby to revolution—and each woman in this novel sings it with a deep ferocity. Again and again, I was lifted, then gently set down again—either through tears, rage, or laughter. Days later, I am still inside this song of a story." —Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award–winning author

From the highly acclaimed,... Read more

Becoming Abolitionists

Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom

By: Derecka Purnell
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
Length: 14 hours 23 minutes

For more than a century, activists in the United States have tried to reform the police. From community policing initiatives to increasing diversity, none of it has stopped the police from killing about three people a day.Millions of people continue to protest police violence because these “solutions” do not match the problem: the police cannot... Read more

Braiding Sweetgrass

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Length: 16 hours 44 minutes

As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our... Read more

The Night Watchman

By: Louise Erdrich
Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
Length: 13 hours 32 minutes

“The Night Watchman is an extraordinary book based on the life of Edrich's grandfather who was a night watchman at a jewel bearing plant as well as an activitist against Native dispossession. The other featured protaganist is Patrice Paranteau who you will quickly come to adore. The Night Watchman is one of Edrich's best works and I highly... Read more

Everyone Knows You Go Home

By: Natalia Sylvester
Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
Length: 10 hours 37 minutes

An International Latino Book Award winner.“Everyone Knows You Go Home is prescient, tackling issues of family division, the arduous journey of crossing from one country into the next, and the sacrifices we make in exchange for a better future.” —Houston ChronicleThe first time Isabel meets her father-in-law, Omar, he’s already dead—an apparition... Read more