The Kirkus Prize Winner and Finalists

The Hate U Give

By: Angie Thomas
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 11 hours 50 minutes

“This bestselling, powerful young adult novel about social justice and one teen girl's effort to fight for what is right, will leave you breathless. The narration by Bahni Turpin is hands down the best I've ever heard. This is such an important book it should be required reading for life in general. Or listening. Definitely listening. Read more

The Poet X

By: Elizabeth Acevedo
Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo
Length: 3 hours 30 minutes

“Acevedo's book is full of raw emotion, poetic descriptions, and gut-wrenching plot points. It explores themes of religious identity, female rage, and embracing a creative lifestyle in the immigrant Latinx community. READ it. Read IT. READ IT! NOW. Stop reading this and go read this book! Read more

New Kid

By: Jerry Craft
Narrated by: Jesus Del Orden, Nile Bullock, Robin Miles, Guy Lockard, Peyton Lusk, Rebecca Soler, Dan Bittner, Phoebe Strole, Marc Thompson, Miles Harvey & Ron Butler
Length: 1 hour 58 minutes

“Meet Jordan, an African American boy attending a prestigious New York middle school where he’s torn between two worlds—rich and working class, black and white. On the first page, Jordan says, “This is how I feel every single day of my life, like I’m falling without a parachute,” and illustrates his experiences (via a book within the book) with... Read more

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

An Oprah’s Book Club Novel

By: Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton & Prentice Onayemi
Length: 29 hours 48 minutes

“At 29 hours this one might seem like quite a commitment, but after traveling the century with them, you’ll deeply miss the echoes of the voices of Ailey and Belle and even good old Uncle Root. Read more

Clap When You Land

By: Elizabeth Acevedo
Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo & Melania-Luisa Marte
Length: 5 hours 32 minutes

“When a plane bound for the Dominican Republic crashes shortly after takeoff, two girls grieve the loss of their father. Camino lives in the Dominican Republic with her aunt and dreams of studying in New York City, where her father lives. Yahaira, a skilled chess player, lives in New York with her parents. Unbeknownst to them, they share a father... Read more

Between the World and Me

By: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Narrated by: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Length: 3 hours 35 minutes

“This oft-challenged and banned text is an homage to James Baldwin and a letter to the author's son. This personal reflection on race and identity in the United States of America manages to both pain a harrowing portrait and inspire a possible future. Coates--a student of poetry with a heart for humanity--will move you and challenge you. Read more

Punch Me Up To The Gods

A Memoir

By: Brian Broome
Narrated by: Brian Broome, Yona Harvey & Robin Miles
Length: 7 hours 20 minutes

WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE • WINNER OF A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD • NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' PICK • STONEWALL HONOR BOOK • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, KIRKUS REVIEWS, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AMAZON AND APPLE BOOKS • TODAY SUMMER READING LIST PICK • ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY BEST DEBUT OF SUMMER PICK •... Read more

Harbor Me

By: Jacqueline Woodson
Narrated by: N'Jameh Camara, Jacqueline Woodson, Toshi Widoff-Woodson, Jose Carrera, Dean Flanagan, Angel Romero & Mikelle Wright-Matos
Length: 3 hours 49 minutes

“In Harbor Me, six kids find common ground and build strong friendships through the simple act of talking to each other. The book addresses important contemporary issues of bullying, racial injustice, and immigration in a way that children from a wide range of backgrounds can relate. Jacqueline Woodson's latest is a beautifully written book that... Read more

Deacon King Kong (Oprah's Book Club)

A Novel

By: James McBride
Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
Length: 14 hours 5 minutes

“Deacon King Kong centers around an uncharacteristic event life in the projects in 1960's New York City. McBride’s highly energetic story encompasses a multitude of characters that circle the Five Ends Baptist Church, where his main character, Sportcoat, is a Deacon. Sportcoat is a hard-drinking, odd-job handyman that lost his wife two years ago... Read more

I Am Every Good Thing

By: Derrick Barnes
Narrated by: Joshua David Scarlett
Length: 4 minutes

An upbeat, empowering, important audiobook from the team that created the award-winning Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut

I am
a nonstop ball of energy.
Powerful and full of light.
I am a go-getter. A difference maker. A leader.

The confident Black narrator of this book is proud of everything that makes him who he is. He's got big plans, and no doubt... Read more

Caste (Oprah's Book Club)

The Origins of Our Discontents

By: Isabel Wilkerson
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 15 hours 10 minutes

“Possibly one of the most important books I've read in the last decade. Caste examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America. Wondering how America came to this? This book has brutal, unflinching answers. Read more

All That She Carried

The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake

By: Tiya Miles
Narrated by: Janina Edwards
Length: 9 hours 29 minutes

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A renowned historian traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft a “deeply layered and insightful” (The Washington Post) testament to people who are left out of the archives.
 
WINNER: Frederick Douglass Book Prize, Harriet Tubman Prize,... Read more

The 1619 Project

A New Origin Story

By: Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman & Jake Silverstein
Narrated by: Nikole Hannah-Jones & Full Cast
Length: 18 hours 56 minutes

“This new landmark work of U.S. history, criticism, and art is forged of 18 essays that consider the relevance of slavery to contemporary America through the prism of such subjects as capitalism, music, and healthcare and poems and fiction that focus on key moments in the oppression, resistance, and liberation of Black people in America. Riveting... Read more

Harlem Shuffle

A Novel

By: Colson Whitehead
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 10 hours 35 minutes

“A tribute to Harlem...a mystery...so well written, and great characters too! Read more

Luster

A Novel

By: Raven Leilani
Narrated by: Ariel Blake
Length: 6 hours 39 minutes

“Although Edie makes questionable choices and seems to have difficulty understanding her sexuality, she unapologetically takes ownership of her body (to the extent she can) and attempts to find pleasure in using her body to make others uncomfortable. Edie is messy, intelligent, complicated, beautiful, disruptive, emotional, and real. Leilani does... Read more

My Monticello

Fiction

By: Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
Narrated by: Aja Naomi King, January LaVoy, Landon Woodson, LeVar Burton, Ngozi Anyanwu & Tomiwa Edun
Length: 7 hours 35 minutes

“A dynamic, and timely, debut by a new voice in fiction, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson. This collection is comprised of five short stories and one novella all set in the state of Virginia. As you read these stories, you will experience, and feel, the gamut of human emotion as the voices and themes in each are different. The author explores race,... Read more

The Life I'm In

By: Sharon G. Flake
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 9 hours 21 minutes

The powerful and long-anticipated companion to The Skin I'm In, Sharon Flake's bestselling modern classic, presents the unflinching story of Char, a young woman trapped in the underworld of human trafficking.My feet are heavy as stones when I walk up the block wondering why I can't find my old self. In The Skin I'm In, readers saw into the life... Read more

Children of Blood and Bone

Legacy of Orisha: Book #1

By: Tomi Adeyemi
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 17 hours 44 minutes

“A sprawling fantasy teeming with deep and meaningful magic. One of the things I like most about this debut is that it raises very real and important issues of our time through multiple character's perspectives. No character is one-dimensional, and every character must learn from failure and introspection to become who they were meant to be. Read more

Freedom Over Me

Eleven Slaves, Their Lives, and Dreams Brought to Life

By: Ashley Bryan
Narrated by: Patricia R. Floyd, Kevin R. Free & Jenny Sterlin
Length: 42 minutes

Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, Ashley Bryan offers a moving and powerful picture book that contrasts the monetary value of a slave with the priceless value of life experiences and dreams that a slave owner could never take away. Imagine being looked up and down and being valued as less than chair. Less than an ox.... Read more

As Brave As You

By: Jason Reynolds
Narrated by: Guy Lockard
Length: 7 hours 1 minute

Kirkus Award Finalist

Schneider Family Book Award Winner

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book

In this “pitch-perfect contemporary novel” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe Award-winning author Jason Reynolds explores multigenerational ideas about family love and bravery in the story of two brothers, their... Read more