Best New Audiobooks for Teens, Selected by AudioFile Magazine for The Children’s Book Review.
AudioFile is excited to announce our new Audiobook Club. Our inaugural pick is a title for teens, REZ BALL by Byron Graves, and narrated by Jesse Nobess. You can learn more about both the Audiobook Club and REZ BALL on our website where you’ll find exclusive videos from the author and narrator and suggested questions to help you launch your own audiobook club discussion.
Of course, we also have more great YA audiobooks to recommend below, all from Indigenous authors and narrators. Read on for mysteries, fantasy, and haunting stories that are perfect for seasonal listening.
The Best New Audiobooks for Teens
Jesse Nobess establishes a determined voice for high school sophomore Tre Brun. After losing his older brother, a basketball star, he finds his own passion to excel at the game. Nobess captures Tre’s emotions as he feels pressure to succeed not only for himself, but also for his family and his Ojibwe community. Listeners, especially sports enthusiasts, will cheer Tre on through the tumultuous and unforgettable basketball season. Review»
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Sheine Lende: A Prequel to Elatsoe
Written by Darcie Little Badger
Read by Kinsale Drake
Recorded Books | 13.75 hrs. | Ages 13+
Darcie Little Badger and narrator Kinsale Drake revisit the fantastic world of Elatsoe in this prequel. Listeners meet Elatsoe’s grandmother, Sheine Lende, as a teenager when she is learning to be a supernaturally skilled tracker from her mother. Drake’s steady cadence creates a storytelling mood reflecting a narrative that details family history and the struggles of the Lipan. When Sheine Lende’s mother and a boy named Lorenza disappear, Sheine Lende must venture to other worlds to find them. Review»
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Funeral Songs for Dying Girls
Written by Cherie Dimaline
Read by Tara Sky, Jessica Matten
Tundra Books | 8.25 hrs. | Ages 13+
Tara Sky and Jessica Matten narrate this fantasy featuring Winifred, a half-Métis teen who wanders the haunted cemetery near her home. Sky narrates as Winifred, whose father considers allowing tourists to visit the cemetery to save their family business. Matten delivers short segments as Phil, one of the cemetery ghosts, in a tone that captures her prickly personality. A fantastic performance of a deeply moving audiobook. Review»
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Harvest House
Written by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Read by Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Charley Flyte
Listening Library | 7.5 hrs. | Ages 13+
Shaun Taylor-Corbett seamlessly narrates this novel, with a masterful assist by Charley Flyte. Hughie Wolfe is asked to help at a Halloween haunted house near the crossroads of his small Kansas town. Then he and his friends begin to learn of odd happenings that are linked to a missing young Indigenous woman named Celeste. Taylor-Corbett narrates with outstanding tonal changes that suit the characters. Flyte’s ethereal narration shines with her portrayal of Celeste at the story’s climax. Review»
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Those Pink Mountain Nights
Written by Jen Ferguson
Read by Julie Lumsden, Aaliya Warbus, Kimberly Woods, Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Harper Audio | 9.25 hrs. | Ages 13
Four talented narrators voice a compelling story of teenagers who find community over a tumultuous week in their Canadian town. Three teens working at Pink Mountain Pizza investigate a plan to sell the restaurant. Each narrator captures the humor, determination, and pain of the friends whose community has been rocked by disappearances of Indigenous girls and women. Review»
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The article “Best New Audiobooks for Teens” was curated by AudioFile. AudioFile is an independent source of audiobook reviews and recommendations with a clear focus on the performance and listening experience. AudioFile Earphones Awards are given to exceptional audiobooks. To learn more, visit audiofilemagazine.com, Twitter @AudioFileMag, Facebook @audiofilemagazine, and Instagram @AudioFileMagazine
