Young Readers

Explore the captivating life story of JT Mestdagh, a young adult who has triumphed over countless adversities—from hundreds of surgeries as a results of his VACTERL syndrome diagnosis, to the lifelong challenge of learning to read with severe dyslexia—to live a life of adventure and inspiration … in a new edition written just for a YA listener.

Born to parents who fled slavery and the Trail of Tears, Magnolia Flower is a girl with a vibrant spirit. Not to be deterred by rigid ways of the world, she longs to connect with others, who too long for freedom. She finds this in a young man of letters who her father disapproves of. In her quest to be free, Magnolia must make a choice and set off on a journey that will prove just how brave one can be when leading with one’s heart.

Sixteen-year-old Phoenix knows her parents have invested thousands of dollars to help her leave Hong Kong and get an elite Ivy League education. They think America means big status, big dreams, and big bank accounts. But Phoenix doesn’t want big; she just wants home. The trouble is, she doesn’t know where that is…until the Hong Kong protest movement unfolds, and she learns the city she’s come to love is in danger of disappearing.

Mark is 17 years old and trapped in a time loop, and that’s just fine with him. It’s summertime and he’s spending this one infinitely repeating day reading his way through the town library. Then he discovers someone else in the loop with him: the brilliant, haunted Margaret. Together Mark and Margaret set out to find every wonderful, amazing, perfect thing that happens in that one day - a journey that will take them to the dark secret that waits at the very heart of their endless day.

When the 13th Classroom is struck by purple lightning, something strange happens - all of the students get superpowers! You might think this was superb, but it was not. (It was sorta silly.) With great gifts comes wild weather, giant roaches, atomic farts, and other tricky troubles. As the students of Classroom 13 are about to learn, getting superpowers is not always super.

When Tai Choi leaves her home in the Zhejiang province of China, she believes she’ll be visiting her grandmother. But in truth, despite her mother’s opposition, her father has sold her to pay his gambling debts. Alone and afraid, Tai Choi is put on a ship headed for San Francisco, known among the Chinese as Gold Mountain. When she arrives, she is forced to go by the new name listed on her paper documents: Tien Fu Wu. Her new life as a servant at a gambling den is hard. And if she is to survive, Tien Fu must persevere, and learn who to trust.

Something very strange is happening in our galaxy. People, spaceships, and whole stars are disappearing without a trace. The Milky Way Galactic Alliance can’t explain the bizarre phenomena, prompting Roswell and his alien friends to solve the mystery themselves. Along the way, Roswell discovers new technology that puts our entire solar system in grave danger, and he learns he’s closer to the problem than he ever thought possible.

Living only until her execution at age 17, and ruling England for less than two weeks, Lady Jane Grey is still remembered for her intelligence and steadfast defense of the gospel. Declared by the dying (Protestant) King Edward as his successor to the throne—instead of his half-sister Mary, as his father's will decreed—his quick decision caused confusion for Jane's succession, which was quickly overcome by Mary's gathering forces and Naval support.

One guards a secret that governs your life, Painful and sharp like the cut of a knife. Two of your number are not who they seem. Two steal away as the dawn robs a dream. One will abandon the cause near the end. One has judged right between villain and friend. Five will be gone ere the struggle is done, ’Til one friend remains, to stand with The One.

Before she became a warrior, Ida B. Wells was an incomparable flirt with a quick wit and a dream of becoming a renowned writer. The first child of newly freed parents who thrived in a community that pulsated with hope and possibility after the Civil War, Ida had a big heart, big ambitions, and even bigger questions: How to be a good big sister when her beloved parents perish in a yellow fever epidemic?

In this sequel to The Dark Portal, the evil rat Jupiter has been defeated, and the young Deptford mice emerge from the sewers to start a new life in the country. But the albino mouse Oswald is seized by an illness and lies near death. His friend Audrey enlists the help of the ancient squirrel mystic Starwife, who agrees to heal him on one condition.

When she was just a tiny baby, something terrible happened to Lexi. It left her with an out-of-control body and without a voice. Now, as a precocious, superhero-obsessed thirteen-year-old, Lexi is counting down the final 24 hours to a risky brain surgery that might help her talk or—dare she dream it?—to walk and use her hands. As surgery grows closer, Lexi finds an urgent, relentless need to share the story of the year in her life she calls The Year of the Buttered Cat. That year, on the verge of shutting out the rest of the world, Lexi began a solitary quest to find her "missing" body.

Amelia Earhart became the first woman pilot to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane—and she broke many other flight records before her mysterious disappearance. Before she made history and changed the world for pilots everywhere, Amelia was an adventure-loving kid who wasn’t afraid to be different. She worked hard and learned how to fly airplanes at a time when many people didn’t think women should be pilots. Explore how Amelia Earhart went from being a young girl growing up in Kansas to an American hero and a celebrated pioneer of flight.

At fourteen years old, Carlotta Walls was the youngest member of the Little Rock Nine. The journey to integration in a place deeply against it would not be not easy. Yet Carlotta, her family, and the other eight students and their families answered the call to be part of the desegregation order issued by the US Supreme Court in its 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case.

When her parents make the dangerous and illegal trek across the Mexican border in pursuit of the American dream, Reyna and her siblings are forced to live with their stern grandmother, as they wait for their parents to build the foundation of a new life. But when things don’t go quite as planned, Reyna finds herself preparing for her own journey to “El Otro Lado” to live with the man who has haunted her imagination for years: her long-absent father.

Shania never thinks much about being White. But after her beloved grandmother passes, she moves to the gentrifying town of Blue Rock and is thrust into Bard, the city's wealthiest private school. At Bard, race is both invisible and hypervisible, and Shania's new friends are split on what they see. There's Catherine, the school's queen bee, who unexpectedly takes Shania under her wing. Then there's Prescott, the golden boy who seems perfect...except for the disturbing rumors about an altercation he had with a Black student who left the school.

Sang Ly lives at Cambodia’s city dump and is grateful she can help earn a living for her family by sifting through the trash for recyclables and things that can be repaired and sold. On a good day, she can earn enough to buy food for her family. She needs enough good days so she can pay the rent collector, Sopeap—a grumpy old woman who shows no mercy and who is willing to evict any tenant who can’t pay their rent on time. When Sang Ly is unable to pay her rent for the month, she fears her family will have to leave the dump and their shanty home.

Eleven-year-old Nicholas Vargas thinks his sucky life has been turned upside down. His developer father has remarried and moved his new wife and daughter into his home in the soon-to-be-completed Melgrove Hollow. So, not only has Nick lost his bedroom to his wacko new step-sister, Laurie (who lugs around this huge book about faeries and wishes her name was Lauranathana...C'mon! How lame is that?!), but his father actually wants him to spend time with her.

Jane Goodall is a celebrated scientist for her studies of chimpanzees in the forests of Africa. Before she observed chimps and helped save them from losing their home, Jane was a curious kid who loved learning about animals. She showed people that women could be scientists, just like men, and fought to follow her dream of working with wild chimps. Explore how Jane Goodall went from being a young nature lover in England to the most important chimpanzee expert in the world.

Jackie Robinson was the first Black Major League Baseball player and an important civil rights leader. Before he made history as a pioneer in sports, Jackie was a hardworking kid who loved to play all kinds of ball games. When Jackie was growing up, Black and white sports players in the United States were not treated the same way. He used his amazing baseball talent to help bring all players together and work toward ending the unfair treatment of Black players. Explore how Jackie went from being a thoughtful young boy growing up in California to an American role model and activist.