This summer, SYNC will be providing two free teen audiobooks each week from April 27th to August 16th. Each week will focus on a specific theme, pairing a classic YA title with a more modern YA title. These two titles will be available to download for free this week only (from 6/15 to 6/22) at the SYNC website. The eighth week will start on Thursday, June 15th with The Souls of Black Folk and The Red Umbrella . The theme for the eighth week is “Juneteenth (June 19).”
Listeners will quickly realize that Du Bois’s classic treatise on life in a post-slavery U.S. society still has resonance today. Du Bois examines how black progress was systematically obstructed for two generations after the abolition of slavery. He also discusses the unique and creative ways in which African-Americans must negotiate a system that regularly dehumanizes them and takes their lives. With a light crackle in his voice, narrator Rodney Gardiner captures listeners’ attention, but it’s his rhythmic intonation that proves most appealing. His ability to emphasize the most important elements in each sentence while maintaining its cadence carries listeners through the production, making this a powerful experience. This specific title is not owned by the Algonquin Area Library, but it is owned (in many different formats) by other libraries in our consortium.
Kyla Garcia masterfully narrates the story of Lucia, a 14-year-old social butterfly living a placid life in 1960s Cuba. When communists invade Lucia’s sleepy town, everything changes. First, their freedoms disappear, one by one. And then, their neighbors begin to disappear. Escape to the United States becomes the only solution, so Lucia and her brother, Frankie, make the dramatic journey. Garcia does a magnificent job balancing the suspense of their escape and the more commonplace joys and sorrows of youth. She’s equally at home voicing the siblings and their Nebraskan foster parents. Listeners will cheer for this engaging and well-told story. This title is also owned in book format by the Algonquin Public Library.