Audiobooks

Hole in My Life (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

In the summer of 1971, Jack Gantos was an aspiring writer looking for adventure, cash for college tuition, and a way out of a dead-end job. For ten thousand dollars, he recklessly agreed to help sail a sixty-foot yacht loaded with a ton of hashish from the Virgin Islands to New York City, where he and his partners sold the drug until federal agents caught up with them. For his part in the conspiracy, Gantos was sentenced to serve up to six years in prison.

In Hole in My Life, this prizewinning author of over thirty books for young people confronts the period of struggle and confinement that marked the end of his own youth. On the surface, the narrative tumbles from one crazed moment to the next as Gantos pieces together the story of his restless final year of high school, his short-lived career as a criminal, and his time in prison. But running just beneath the action is the story of how Gantos, once he was locked up in a small, yellow-walled cell, moved from wanting to be a writer to writing, and how dedicating himself more fully to the thing he most wanted to do helped him endure and ultimately overcome the worst experience of his life.

The O'Reilly Factor For Kids: A Survival Guide for America's Families (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

There's no one more blunt, more opinionated, or more outspoken than the average teen. Except, of course, Bill O'Reilly, veteran star journalist, anchor of the most watched cable news program on TV, New York Times best-selling author, husband, father of two, and former teacher.

In his latest book, O'Reilly talks straight to the readers most likely to appreciate his direct style: teens. To be sure he's addressing their most pressing concerns, he responds to actual letters from kids who tune in to his radio and TV shows regularly and collaborates with an award-winning former high school teacher and college professor Charles Flowers.

If you're a kid and you're listening to this audio, consider sharing it with your parents, they'll understand you better.

If you're a parent and you're listening to this audio, definitely share it with your kids, you'll sleep better.

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

From the author of Dunk comes this sparkling new novel that covers a year in the life of high school freshman Scott Hudson, who is sideswiped by the unexpected news that his mother is about to have another baby.

In a hilarious and touching journal addressed to the unborn intruder, Scott bares his soul as he copes with the trials and tribulations of a life that is changing faster than he wants it to. Filled with Lubar's trademark wit, enlivened by unexpected twists and turns of plot, Sleeping Freshmen is widely considered one of the best YA novels of 2005.

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

Everything I'm about to tell you occurred exactly as I say. And I don't just mean the stuff about "Deadwood" High, and my fight with Carla Santini over the school play. I mean everything. Even the things that seem so totally out of this solar system that you think I must have made them up, like crashing the party after Sidartha's farewell concert in New York, they're true too. And nothing's been exaggerated. Not the teeniest, most subatomic bit. It all happened exactly as I'm telling it. And it starts with the end of the world.

The Book Thief (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

"It's just a small story, really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery...."

This novel is narrated in the all-knowing, matter-of-fact voice of Death, who witnesses the story of the citizens of Molching.

When nine-year-old Liesel arrives outside the boxlike house of her new foster parents at 33 Himmel Street, she refuses to get out of the car. Liesel has been separated from her parents, "Kommunists", forever, and at the burial of her little brother, she steals a gravedigger's instruction manual, which she can't read. It is the beginning of her illustrious career.

In the care of the Hubermans, Liesel befriends blond-haired Rudy Steiner, a neighbour obsessed with Jesse Owens, and the mayor's wife, who hides from despair in her library. Together, Liesel and Rudy steal books - from Nazi book-burning piles, from the mayor's library, from the rich people for whom her foster mother does the ironing. In time, they take in a Jewish boxer, Max, who reads with Liesel in the basement.

By 1943, the Allied bombs are falling, and the sirens begin to wail. Liesel shares her books in the air-raid shelters. But one day in the life of Himmel Street, the wail of the sirens comes too late.

A life-changing tale of the cruel twists of fate and the coincidences on which all our lives hinge, this is also a joyous look at how books can nourish the soul. Its uplifting ending will make listeners weep.

Noughts and Crosses

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

Sephy is a Cross, a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought, a 'colourless' member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood. But that's as far as it can go. Until the first steps are taken towards more social equality and a limited number of Noughts are allowed into Crosses schools.

Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity by Noughts unable to accept the injustices any longer, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum; a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger.

One Mississippi (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

Yankee transplant Daniel Musgrove can't seem to fit in at his Mississippi high school. When he meets fellow outsider Tim Cousins, things look up. But then the two boys' battles with a local bully escalate into a violent act that rocks the town.

Go Ask Alice (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

Life at 15 isn't easy for a girl if she's shy and hates the way she looks. Each day is heaven or hell, depending on who talks to her, or who doesn't. So when she's finally accepted by a group, she doesn't refuse their party games, even if it means taking LSD. Soon she's taking little pills to wake up and others to go to sleep, and the days begin to blur. Leaving the secure, middle-class circle of her family, she travels into a nightmare realm of hustlers and dealers. Homeless, driven by drug highs and lows, she sometimes tries to regain control over her life. But it's much easier to just get high again.

Based on a 15-year-old's diary, Go Ask Alice is the intimate account of one girl's fatal journey into the world of drug addiction. Poignant and unflinchingly honest, her story is a tragedy that is repeated in towns and cities across the country.

The Buccaneers (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

This thrilling companion to Iain Lawrence's award-winning The Wreckers and The Smugglers plunges listeners into high-sea action and intrigue. After 17-year-old John Spencer sets out on his first voyage to foreign lands, he and his crew are wary when they come across a stranger named Horn rowing a lifeboat in the middle of nowhere. What is the man hiding?

Buried Onions (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

You can pray and sometimes God listens, says 19-year-old Eddie. "Other times he's far away in India or Africa or maybe close to home in Fresno, his body sprawled on the floor, glass all around because of a drive-by."

All Eddie wants is to find a way out of the dangerous life he's living, where his friends are lost in a world of drugs and violence. Even his aunt wants to give him a gun so he can avenge the death of her son. But no matter how hard he works, Eddie can't seem to pull himself away from the sweltering sadness of the city. It's as if giant onions had been buried beneath him, Eddie thinks, releasing shimmering vapors off the black asphalt all around.

Gary Soto, the award-winning author of Jesse, presents a tough, relentless look at a life spiraling out of control. Narrator Robert Ramirez voices all the grim failure of the American dream.

Gingerbread (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

After being expelled from boarding school, teenaged Cyd Charisse is coping with her life circumstances as best she can. She even has a new boyfriend named Shrimp. But her mother is disturbed by Cyd's rebellious behavior and sends her away from San Francisco to live with her biological father in New York City.

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

Several things about 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson's life are very wrong. Her bedroom smells like her little sister probably peed somewhere, but she can?t find where. Angus, her enormous cat, keeps terrorizing Mrs. Next Door's poodle. Dad's gone off to look for work in New Zealand. And one of her friends has rated Georgia's nose a zero on a scale from 1-10. But what's really driving her crazy is that Sex God Robbie doesn't give her the time of day. In fact, he's dating total idiot Lindsay, who Georgia happens to know wears thong knickers, which have no purpose except to climb up your bum. Is it too much for Georgia to hope for some full-frontal snogging with a Sex God, if he ever notices her?

Louise Rennison caused a sensation with this hilarious book that has been called Bridget Jones' Diary for adolescents. Narrator Stina Nielsen brilliantly fills the shoes of one of the most colorful young adult book characters in years.

Away Laughing on a Fast Camel: Even More Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (Unabridged)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

New York Times best-selling author Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicolson series, hailed as Bridget Jones's Diary for teens, is an international phenomenon. Loaded with colorful British slang and the occasionally mad ravings of a teenage girl trying to find herself, each book provokes uncontrollable laughter.

Robbie the Sex God (yummy scrumboes) is Georgia's official boyfriend! Life should be fab and double cool with knobs. One problem, though. The Sex God is moving to Kiwi-a-gogo land to snog sheep. Distraught, Georgia decides to show extreme glaciosity to all boys. But then along comes the gorgey new Italian-American lead singer for the Stiff Dylans. Has the new Dream Boat landed?

Sure to make you feel marvy, Away Laughing on a Fast Camel is another hilarious entry in the infamous confessions of Georgia Nicolson.

The Seeing Stone

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

The year is 1199, the place the Welsh Marches, where young Arthur de Caldicot practises his tilting and archery, learns to be a dutiful page to his father, and waits impatiently to grow up and become a knight. One day his father's friend Merlin gives him a shining black stone. When Arthur starts to see stories in the stone, his life quickly becomes entwined with that of his namesake, the boy who pulls the sword in the stone.

In the many-layered novel of which this is the talking book, King Arthur is seen as a figure for all time, an exemplar to his namesake, a mysterious presence influencing not just one time and place but many. The 100 short chapters are almost like sound bites, not only of the mythical past of King Arthur but the real, earthy, uncomfortable Middle Ages. The turn of the century; uncertainty about the future; war and peace; Christianity and Islam; rationalism and superstition; the sharp contracts in the lives of rich and poor; all these issues impact on the life of a boy in a medieval manor and give the book its uniquely contemporary feel.

The Seeing Stone is a unique and brilliant new take on the Arthurian story-cycle. The author is a magician with words and his light, speedy narrative is as easy to listen to as it is poetic.

The Mediator: Grave Doubts

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:31:05 -0800

Suze is in deep. She loves gorgeous, ghostly Jesse, but fellow mediator, Paul Slater, is determined to win her heart. And evil Paul knows how to blast Jesse to the Great Beyond. For good.

Paul promises he won't do anything to Jesse, as long as Suze will go out with him. Suze doesn't want to lose Jesse forever, so she agrees. But now she's having grave doubts: can a girl really have a future with a guy who's already dead?