I’m All Ears: Evaluating Audiobooks

I know a lot of us librarians are audiobook fans, and while we are experts in what makes a good story, it can be hard to say what exactly makes an audiobook good? Most of us have no problem evaluating books in print, but few have had training in critiquing an audiobook. We can often easily spot a bad one, but pinpointing what exactly the problem is harder to do! I myself was pretty clueless about this when I was first asked to serve on YALSA’s Amazing Audiobooks Blogging Team back in 2018. I really got thrown into the deep end there. Since serving on that committee, and now that I am serving my second year on ALSC’s Notable Children’s Recordings Committee, I feel like I have a much better grasp on things. 

Here are some key criteria to consider when evaluating an audiobook:

image via launchpo.com

Narration:

• Does the narrator feel like a good fit? 
  • For example, if portraying a child or teen, does the narrator sound youthful? 
• Is the performance dynamic? Does the reader express character emotions authentically? Do they vary their pitch, pace, or tone to match the story
  • For example, speeding up a bit during tense scenes, or slowing down to add drama.
• Does the reader help differentiate characters by changing pitch, tone, and inflection? Do they avoid stereotypes or patronizing mannerisms when presenting characters?
• Do any accents and dialects sound authentic? Are they used consistently?
• Overall, does the narrator have good diction? Do you notice many audible breaths, unnecessary pauses, or sibilance? 

Audio vs Print:

• Does the audiobook seem to complement the text, or even expand or elevate it?
  • For example, consider the way a graphic novel adaptations often thoughtfully incorporates sound effects, music, or adapted text to make the listening experience as good as or even better than the experience of reading in print.
  • Another example is when a book references a “listener” rather than a “reader.”
• If music or sound effects are used, do they feel appropriate for the context and tone of the book? Do they truly enhance the text or do they feel extraneous? Are they balanced well or do they overwhelm?
• Is back matter included, and if so, is it easy to listen to?
  • For example, a timeline read aloud is difficult to perceive without a visual representation.

Overall Audio Quality

• Do you hear any noticeable pops, echo sounds, electronic interference, etc. ?
• Is the sound quality consistent throughout?
  • Tip: Try listening in different ways–-in the car, on headphones, and on the computer. Sometimes inconsistencies come through that way.

Keep these things in mind next time you’re listening and you’ll soon figure out not just what makes an audiobook good, but what makes one truly great. Have you listened to anything amazing lately? Please share in the comments!

Listening to Graphic Novels

One of my current obsessions is listening to graphic novel audiobooks. 

In 2020 when Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s Hey Kiddo won an Odyssey Award, I admit I was a bit flummoxed. I loved the book in print, but I was immediately skeptical. A graphic novel on audio? How does that work? Wouldn’t you miss out on so much if you couldn’t see Krosoczka’s amazing art? Can you really listen to a graphic novel?

Turns out you can!

I listened to the award presentation in which Krosoczka and others involved in the adaptation process discussed choosing narrators, adapting the text, and creating a soundscape for the story. I was shocked to hear just what painstaking care was put into adapting this text. For example, during a scene in which a character walks by wearing corduroy pants, the creators literally bought a pair or cords and rubbed them together so the effect can be heard by listeners. I was so impressed by the attention to detail, and pleased to learn just how thoughtfully produced an audiobook graphic novel could be.

I immediately checked out Hey Kiddo on audio, listened to it, and was absolutely blown away. I’d been a long time audiobook devotee, yet I’d never encountered music, sound effects, or a full cast of narrators in dialogue with one another. I was hooked.

I’m currently serving the second year of a two year stint on ALSC’s Notable Children’s Recordings committee. Suddenly I’m listening to lots of graphic novel audiobook adaptations, and I continue to find myself surprised and delighted with how incredible these audiobooks are. They are adapted creatively, narration is usually balanced well with sound effects and music, and there is often a full cast to help bring characters to life. Another bonus is that these adaptations make incredible stories accessible to more readers. I’ve found that neither the print or the audiobook are necessarily superior, but rather both versions are usually delightful ways of experiencing the same story.

Interested in trying out graphic novels on audio? I promise you won’t be disappointed! Here are a few of my favorites to get you started:

 

Hey Kiddo

By:  Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Narrated by:  Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Jeanne Birdsall, Richard Ferrone, Jenna Lamia

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

Class Act

By:  Jerry Craft

Narrated by:  Nile Bullock ,Jesus Del Orden, Guy Lockard, Marc Thompson, Peyton Lusk, Rebecca Soler, Dan Bittner, January LaVoy, Phoebe Strole, Jordan Cobb, A.J Beckles, Robin Miles, Ron Butler

Nimona

By:  ND Stevenson

Narrated by:  Rebecca Soler, Jonathan Davis, Marc Thompson

Max and the Midknights

By:  Lincoln Peirce

Narrated by:  Kristen DiMercurio, Marc Thompson, Christopher Gebauer, Fred Berman, Dan Bittner, Michael Crouch, Jonathan Davis, James Fouhey, Jim Frangione, January LaVoy

Twins

By:  Varian Johnson

Narrated by:  Ahnya O’Riordan, Grace Capeless, Mashari Bain, Malcolm Bowen, Antoinette Comer, Andre Blake, Armand Xavier Rufen-Blanchette

Allergic

By:  Megan Wagner Lloyd, Michelle Mee Nutter

Narrated by:  Priya Ayyar, Dan Bittner, Matt Braver, Maxwell Glick, Greta Jung, Katie Koster, Ray Lee, Kathleen McInerney, Ulka Simone Mohanty, Nneka Okafor

Roller Girl

By:  Victoria Jamieson

Narrated by:  Almarie Guerra, Kate Reinders, Tara Sands, Hillary Huber, Jorjeana Marie, Cassandra Morris, P.J. Ochlan, Adenrele Ojo, Georgette Perna, Bahni Turpin

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

By:  Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs

Narrated by:  Riz Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, Neil Gaiman, James McAvoy, Samantha Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, Andy Serkis, Michael Sheen

Mistakes Were Made: Audiobooks Featuring Lovable Screw-Ups

Pondering the best audiobooks I’d listened to lately, I realized that they all shared a common thread: Protagonists with a lot of heart who’d made some major mistakes. Check out these listens featuring vivid characters dealing with very different, very tough circumstances. 

 

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

When I heard Angie Thomas was writing Concrete Rose, a prequel of sorts to The Hate U Give featuring Starr’s father, Maverick Carter, I had my doubts. How could it possibly live up to THUG, and how could the audiobook live up to Bahni Turpin’s magnificent performance? My friends, I’m happy to report that both Angie Thomas and narrator Dion Graham absolutely knocked it out of the park with this one. 

Seventeen year old Maverick’s world gets turned upside down when he finds out he’s a father as a result of a one night stand. And just when it seems like things couldn’t get any worse for Mav and his family, tragedy strikes. A series of setbacks forces Mav to grapple with conflicting messages about what it means to be a man, what it means to be a father, and what it means to have someone’s back. 

Dion Graham imbues Maverick with so much heart, you can’t help but love him despite all the mistakes he makes. All of Thomas’s characters are distinctive, and Graham masterfully brings each one to life. The dialogue is fantastic, and the setting is vivid. The 90s slang and references were pure nostalgic joy for me. This is a story that’s meant to be heard.

You Know I’m No Good by Jessie Ann Foley

Mia is a self-identified “Troubled Teen.” She drinks, does drugs, has casual sex, and gets in terrible fights with her parents. Things come to a head when a particularly nasty fight with her stepmom gets her shipped off to Red Oak Academy, a therapeutic boarding school for girls with “issues.” Mia is forced to confront the tragedies in her past that led her to her misbehavior, and ultimately, the problematic way the world tends to treat young vulnerable women.

Narrator Hayden Bishop does a fantastic job of depicting Mia’s anger and edginess, but also her vulnerability and deep sadness. She distinctly portrays the quirky group of classmates Mia befriends at Red Oak, making them easy to love and empathize with. This is a beautiful story that asks important questions about self-worth, consent, and privilege. Hand it to fans of Foley’s other books, or those looking for something like Speak with an acerbic edge.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

In France in 1714, Addie LaRue makes a desperate Faustian bargain in order to escape being trapped in a loveless marriage. Too late she realizes she made a bargain with the wrong magical being: He gets her out of her marriage, but dooms her to live forever in isolation, never to be remembered by anyone she meets. 300 years later, she comes across another of the devil’s cursed victims. Can they work together to break the curses? 

Julia Whelan, narrator extraordinaire, pulls out another superb performance. Spanning 300 years, and moving back and forth between the past and present, Whelan varies her tone and rhythm to match the different settings of Addie’s story so the reader never feels lost. Whelan capture’s young Addie’s naïveté and longing, as well as present day Addie’s remorse, fatigue, jadedness, and ultimately, her hopefulness. This genre-defying tale manages to be both a suspenseful thriller, a romance, and a philosophical rumination on human nature, art, storytelling and memory. Though this book was technically published for adults, teens cannot stop raving about it. 

 

Thoughtful Displays

We have all seen fun library displays on the internet. One of the most famous ones being:

 

 

This one is fun and speaks to something that occurs regularly for librarians and patrons alike. Sometimes it is easy just to throw a display together based on a book cover color or staff favorites, but it is also important to put up thoughtful displays. Why should these titles be shared, what groups them together, what might someone be looking for? It is my goal in my new YA space to have more thoughtful book displays. While patrons might not immediately see the change and it might not always be obvious, it is important to my collection.

 

For example, this month I am doing Spine Tingling Reads. While people might generally jump to horror with this, it is not only horror books. I have included mysteries and thrillers, as well as books that deal with sides of society that we do not want to see or experience. Everyone’s version of “spine tingling” is different. Something stereo-typically horror might not frighten someone, but the thought of something falling apart in society just might. I still tried to keep it obvious that these were more dark versions of mysteries, thrillers, etc., but I wanted to go beyond what one would expect from the display.

 

 

In November I will be doing a Listen Up! display of all audiobooks. I want to do this to show readers audiobooks are still reading! There are also some audiobooks that I fear get lost in the shuffle and maybe have been missed out on. This will also hopefully lead to more feedback on what kind of audiobooks my teens are specifically looking for.

 

December is In Case You Missed It, which will be low or non-circulating books. In our new YA section you are (finally) really able to look at the shelves, so circ stats are going up, but there are some books that might use the help of an extra boost. These will be titles that might be similar to other popular books, they are just not as well known; books that we have had for a year, but got drowned out by the others, etc. My hope with this is to bring new life to these overlooked titles and help readers find something that they would not expect.

 

While these displays might be harder to fill because someone can’t just grab a red book off of a shelf, the use of a list can be extremely helpful. I also create a list for my colleagues in case they need to fill the display. I did this in our last building and did my best to do thoughtful displays and hope to continue to grow them here. Some of my most popular ones from our last building were: #metoo; 20BiTeen; and Latinx Heritage Month.

 

What kind of displays do you find your readers to be drawn to?

Awesome Audiobooks for Families with Tweens and Teens

Once Memorial Day hits and family vacation officially begins, my audiobook collection really starts popping. I rarely get asked for audiobook advice throughout the school year, but come summer, patrons start asking for recommendations and I have to pull out my audio RA skills.

The vast majority of the time, parents are looking for audiobooks that the whole family can listen to and enjoy. I’d say my number one question tends to be “What audiobooks will be appropriate for my younger tween, but still appeal to my older teen?”

Here are some of my top picks that have high appeal to a wide age range without being overly risqué:

Not if I Save You First – Ally Carter (narrated by Brittany Pressley)
After six years with no word from Maddie’s best friend, Logan, he shows up on the doorstep of the remote Alaskan cabin where she and her father live…with a murderer in pursuit.

Girl in the Blue Coat – Monica Hesse (narrated by Natalia Payne)
In 1943 Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, Hanneke–a ‘finder’ of black market goods–is tasked with finding a Jewish girl a customer had been hiding, who has seemingly vanished into thin air.

The Parker Inheritance – Varian Johnson (narrated by Cherise Boothe)
Candice is spending the summer in the house that belonged to her grandmother, who was fired from her job as city manager for digging up up city tennis courts looking for buried treasure. When Candice finds the letter that sent her grandmother on the treasure hunt, she finds herself caught up in the mystery. She sets out to find the treasure and exonerate her grandmother.

Warcross – Marie Lu (narrated by Nancy Wu)
After hacking into the Warcross Championships’ opening game, bounty hunter Emika Chen is asked by the game’s creator to go undercover to investigate a security problem, and she uncovers a sinister plot.

Moxie – Jennifer Mathieu (narrated by Suzy Jackson)
In a small Texas town where high school football reigns supreme, Viv starts a feminist revolution using anonymously-written zines.

From Twinkle with Love – Sandhya Menon (narrated by Soneela Nankani and Vikas Adam)
Told through letters, aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra learns a lesson about love while directing a movie for the Midsummer Night arts festival, in which her longtime crush and his twin brother are also participating.

Renegades – Marissa Meyer (narrated by Dan Bittner and Rebecca Soler)
In a ruined world where humans with extraordinary abilities have become the world’s champions of justice, a vengeance-seeking girl and a justice-seeking boy team up against a villain who has the power to destroy everything they have worked to protect.

Akata Witch – Nnedi Okorafor (narrated by Yetide Badaki)
Sunny, an American-born albino child of Nigerian parents, moves with her family back to Nigeria, where she learns that she has latent magical powers which she and three similarly gifted friends must use to catch a serial killer. This is a great readalike for Harry Potter fans.

La Belle Sauvage – Philip Pullman (narrated by Martin Sheen)
When Malcolm finds a secret message inquiring about a dangerous substance called Dust, he finds himself embroiled in a tale of intrigue featuring enforcement agents from the Magisterium, a woman with an evil monkey dæmon, and a baby named Lyra. This is a prequel to The Golden Compass.

Ghost – Jason Reynolds (narrated by Guy Lockard)
Ghost, a naturally talented runner and troublemaker, is recruited for an elite middle school track team. He must stay on track, literally and figuratively, to reach his full potential.

The Rithmatist – Brandon Sanderson (narrated by Michael Kramer)
Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings that threaten all of the American Isles. As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery—one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.

Dry – Neal Shusterman (narrated by a full cast)
The drought has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers. Until the taps run dry. Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbours and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.

Dear Martin – Nic Stone (narrated by Dion Graham)
Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., college-bound Justyce McAllister struggles to face how the reality of race relations today are shaping him.

The Screaming Staircase – Jonathan Stroud (narrated by Miranda Raison)
When London is overrun by malevolent spirits, a talented group of young psychic detectives compete against other ghostbusting agencies in the debut of a new series that finds three intrepid colleagues investigating one of England’s most haunted houses.

Leviathan – Scott Westerfeld (narrated by Alan Cumming)
In an alternate 1914 Europe, Austrian Prince Alek is on the run from the Clanker Powers, who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery. Alek forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

 

**Summaries modified from Novelist.

2019 Top Ten Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults

This past year I was lucky enough to serve on YALSA’s Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Blogging Team. Throughout the year, my fellow committee members and I listened to over 300 audiobooks with teen appeal, nominating 62 titles, and writing blog posts about many of them over on YALSA’s blog, The Hub. At the end of the year, we honed the list down to 39 that we felt truly earned the title of “amazing.” The top 10 titles received the highest number of votes from the committee, and they are some truly stellar titles. Read more about them below, and please make sure to stock up your collection with these awesome picks!*

• Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor, read by Yetide Badaki.
  Sunny, an Albino Nigerian-American girl, who feels she belongs nowhere discovers she belongs to an ancient world of magical people. She and her friends must use their magic to save the world from an evil that threatens to destroy it. Badaki’s delivery of this story is mesmerizing.
• Educated by Tara Westover, read by Julia Whelan.
  Tara Westover grew up in isolation with six siblings, an herbalist mother, and a devout Mormon father, and at seventeen, she begins to fight for her education. Whelan gives an understated performance for the narration, which has enough dramatic action, such as the harrowing accidents the family experiences, to compel the story.
• I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman, read by Nicole Lewis, Michael Crouch, and Sunil Malhotra.
  Three young adults accidentally collide in New York City and embark on a single day of adventure, friendship, secrets, and loss that will change their lives forever. Lewis, Crouch and Malhotra are equally exemplary in portraying the characters in happiness, retrospection, growth, and sorrow.
• Lu by Jason Reynolds, read by Guy Lockard.
  Lucky Lu (the one and only, the kid, the guy) struggles to figure out where he fits in both on the track team, quite literally jumping hurdles, and in life, with a new sibling on the way. Guy Lockard concludes his flawless narration of the Track series with swagger, heart, and humility.
• Quidditch Through the Ages by J.K. Rowling and Kennilworthy Whisp, read by Andrew Lincoln.
  Re-released with additional content, Quidditch Through The Ages takes a look at the most popular wizarding sport from the Harry Potter series. Andrew Lincoln charms audiences with his narration of the history and early origins of Quidditch.
• Sadie by Courtney Summers, read by Rebecca Soler, Fred Berman, Dan Bittner, Gabra Zackman, and a Full Cast.  When Mattie is found dead, her older sister and caretaker Sadie has only one goal; track down her killer. West McCray, a radio personality starts a podcast about Sadie’s disappearance, becoming obsessed with finding her before it’s too late. The full cast nail the intriguing premise and make this audio a nail-biting edge of your seat thriller.
• Sunny by Jason Reynolds, read by Guy Lockard.
  Sunny’s passion is dancing, but he runs to please his father. Then Sunny’s coach finds a way for him to “dance” on the track by throwing discus instead of running. Narrator Guy Lockhard perfectly captures Sunny’s fresh, distinctive voice, creating an authentic character that readers will adore.
• The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by MT Anderson and Eugene Yelchin, read by Gildart Jackson.
  Elfin historian Brangwain Spurge is sent on a diplomatic mission to the goblin kingdom, and his host, goblin Archivist Werfel is thrilled about the potential to ease tensions between the elves and goblins. Gildart Jackson’s voice is perfect for this biting satire as he gives life to each character in this hilarious, unique tale.
• The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, read by Elizabeth Acevedo.
  Xiomara Batista needs an outlet from her mother, who insists Xiomara attend confirmation classes, help around the house based on her gender, and never speak to boys. Author Acevedo narrates her own novel in verse in such a way that you feel more like you’re in the audience at a poetry slam than listening to a mere audiobook.
• Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman, read by Greg Trembley.
  Rowan and Citra continue to challenge the Scythedom, but in very different ways. The Thunderhead watches to learn, evolve, and find loopholes in its own rules. Greg Trembley finds a fitting and unique voice for each main character, voicing the level of authority a Scythe and the Thunderhead feel they have.

*Note: Annotations taken from here.

SYNC: Free Summer Audiobook Program for Teens

Guess who’s back? Back again. SYNC is back. Tell a friend!

Apologies to Eminem and everyone everywhere for that intro. I’m just so excited that the SYNC Audiobooks for Teens summer program is returning for its 8th year with even more weeks of FREE! audiobooks.

Here are the highlights:

• For teens 13+
• 32 audiobooks (2 per week) starting on April 27
• A mix of classic and modern titles from authors including Nikki Grimes, M.T. Anderson, Ruta Sepetys and W.E.B. DuBois
• Sponsored by Audiofile and “powered” by OverDrive (download the app to start listening!)
• Sign up to get an email when titles become available at audiobooksync.com or text “syncYA” to 25827
• Download and listen!

Titles are only available during a specific week, but once downloaded, they are yours to keep. Tell your teens to clear some space on their smartphones.  Print some posters and utilize other promotional materials from the Toolkit. And get everyone reading!

The Great Debate: Print v. Ebook v. Audio

Want to see a room of avid readers go totally crazy and become a judgment zone? Steer the conversation to the pros and cons of different reading formats – print, e-book and audiobook – and then watch what happens. On the surface, all readers are members of the same club, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find a stark divide between readers with strong preferences for and prejudices against print, audio and e-books. Let’s unpack that, shall we?

Print: The Traditionalist

There’s a reason why print remains the most popular way to read. When we think of reading, our minds most likely create a picture of someone sitting in a cozy chair curled up with a paper book. People gravitate toward physical books not just because of the nostalgia, but also because having a well-stocked bookcase is a form of self-expression. In particular, having a display of one’s favorite books – that have been read numerous times, have been signed by the author or have notes and underlines scribbled inside – serve as more than just accessories. Books tell the story of who you are, not just to others, but as a reminder to yourself.

Aside from the more emotional reasons that print remains popular, it’s also important to note that most non-reference library collections still exist primarily in print. In a given library or library system, you’re much more likely to come across multiple print copies of a title. Print is also great for visual storytelling, whether it’s a picture book, graphic novel or a regular old book that includes photos or stylistic fonts to enhance the reading experience. Lending print books is also easy. If it’s a personal book, you just hand it over. Libraries have been lending books for so long that policies around lending are pretty easy and straightforward (even if the occasional book comes back damaged or not at all. Print books are also endlessly browse-able. Eye-catching displays and helpful staff help to create a powerfully inviting and easy way to find your next read.

E-books: The Modern Reader

Remember when ereaders first came out in the mid-2000s and everyone freaked out and pronounced the end of books as we knew them? Now that we’ve had a few years to let eBooks play out, we’ve weathered that storm and can more clearly identify the distinct advantages and disadvantages of e-reading. It used to be that in order to access e-books one needed to purchase a specific electronic device designed solely for digital books. In addition to the cost of the ereader, a person would need to purchase every e-book they wanted to read, because the publishing industry wasn’t equipped to work with libraries to create workable lending models. The cost of ereading was high and thus limited the audience. With the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets, ereading is a lot cheaper and easier to accomplish these days. Library services like OverDrive and OneClickDigital and individual subscription services like Scribd enable greater access to large collections of e-books at little to no cost. When browsing the library’s e-book collection, it can be frustrating to find that many titles aren’t available or that you must go on a hold list, but as publishers work out better models for e-book lending, the library’s collection of e-books grows, and this is changing.

Leveling the cost playing field has enabled some of the advantages of ereading to shine. E-books are endlessly portable! A tablet with one book weighs the same and takes up the same amount of space as a tablet with fifty books on it. With a tablet, the versatility of the device enables the user to toggle between reading, email, Facebook and web surfing. Built-in features to adjust font size and options like the dyslexic font and contrast settings help individuals with a variety of vision and processing issues to access reading material. The ease of getting new books -particularly new releases – is also not to be understated. Pre-ordered titles are available in the first few minutes of release day, without any need to go anywhere or wait for a shipment to arrive.

Audiobooks: The Cheater

Many readers will tell you that listening to audiobooks instead of reading books is cheating. While the experience is, admittedly, different because you are using your ears instead of your eyes to absorb the story, it is not inferior. Listening is how humans shared stories before the invention of written language. No one would accuse a blind person of “cheating” for using his/her sense of touch to read braille, so why should ears be different?

The main advantage of audiobooks to the typical reader is their portability. Gone are the days of lugging around a case of CDs that need to be listened to in order and popped into and out of the player. With MP3s, audiobooks can be quickly and easily downloaded onto your smartphone and off you go! While it’s true they do take up quite a bit of memory and that it takes longer to listen to a book than read one, you can listen to audiobooks when your hands and eyes are otherwise occupied driving, walking the dog or cleaning. If you miss something, it’s pretty easy to go back in 15-second increments and re-listen to passages. The listener can also speed up or slow down the pace of an audiobook to accommodate their personal preferences.

Purchasing individual audiobooks can be pricey – sometimes 4 or 5 times as costly as the print or e-book versions – but services including Audible and Scribd are making it a little easier on the wallet. Even better: Since so many readers are biased against audiobooks, the library holds list for audiobooks don’t tend to be very long! Certain audiobook narrators really make books come to life and add to the enjoyment of the story, making it even better than the printed version. This is often true for memoirs and books with multiple narrators voiced by different actors, but Jim Dale (or Steven Fry) reading Harry Potter on their own is also an experience not to be missed.

Audiobooks can also be a lifesaver for individuals with learning disabilities. Whether you’re a student listening along to the audio while dutifully reading the print copy along with the narrator, or just listening to the audio alone, hearing the story spoken aloud – with proper pacing, pronunciation, and emphasis – can help readers to understand the story more easily and thus lead to more enjoyment. I’ve heard from several students how audiobooks have helped to turn them from struggling and reluctant readers into confident readers.

In Conclusion…

As readers and librarians, I’m hopeful that we’re finally coming to an agreement that there are many ways to read and that instead of one format being the death knell of another, the various formats can work together in beautiful harmony to provide entry points for all sorts of readers. 21st century readers are in the fortunate position to have a variety of platforms to support reading and it’s our job – literally – to connect readers with the books that they want and deserve.

I’m sure I’ve missed some of the advantages and disadvantages for each format. Feel free to add in your thoughts in the comments and share how you like to read!

SYNC: Free Summer Audiobook Program for Teens

Ah, summer! School is (almost) out and the time is right for long road trips, laying out in the sun and/or spending countless hours earning minor ducats at a thankless job. What better way to while away the hours than with audiobooks? Even better, FREE audiobooks…30 of them!

You read that right. The amazingness of SYNC returns for it’s seventh and biggest summer yet. The good folks at AudioFile have partnered with just about all of the audiobook producers and are offering teens 13+ (and educators and librarians) the opportunity to download 2 FREE audiobooks per week, every week between now and August 17th. The audiobooks are playable through the OverDrive app.

The list of titles available this summer is fantastic and ranges from Laura Ruby’s 2016 Printz Award winner and National Book Award Finalist Bone Gap to Chinua Achebe’s classic novel Things Fall Apart. To get your teens in on the free audiobooks all they need to do is text “syncYA” to 25827 and download the OverDrive app. Each week, subscribers receive a text notification when the new books are available for download. Books are available only during the week they’re being advertised, but once a book is downloaded it’s theirs to keep! There’s no obligation to download any of the books, and teens can easily pick and choose which of the titles they want to add to their collection. Since the titles never expire once downloaded, listeners can save downloaded books to help pass the time on a long flight or drive or even for “someday” in the future.

Another great thing about SYNC is that since listening requires the use of the OverDrive app, it provides a built in opportunity to promote your library’s ebook and audiobook collections. I promoted this program to my middle school students last year and had several students who took advantage. This year I’m promoting SYNC alongside the summer reading list titles available in our OverDrive collection. The first week of titles are available now. Let the listening begin!