This summer, SYNC will be providing two free teen audiobooks each week from April 26th to July 25th. 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 5/17 to 5/24) at the SYNC website. The fourth week will start on Thursday, May 17th with Saving Montgomery Sole . The theme for the fourth week is “finding a place to fit in.”
Small-town life can be rough, even in easygoing California, and 16-year-old Monty Sole experiences it up close—not only as the daughter of two moms but also because of her interest in the unexplained mysteries of the world (like psychic powers). Narrator Rebecca Lowman’s soft tones and youthful cadence highlight Monty’s struggles to understand the high school social scene, homophobia, and the mixed messages of evangelical Christianity. Lowman’s use of distinct voices for the dialogue and a change in inflection for texts and websites serves as guideposts for the listener in this coming-of-age story about learning to be comfortable with who you are and accepting the impossibility of completely eliminating intolerance. This audiobook, with its realistic portrayals of LGBTQ issues, is appropriate for all ages. The library owns this in book and CD audiobook formats.
In 2015, the picture book I AM JAZZ, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, about a transgender girl, was No. 3 on the American Library Association’s Top Ten Banned Books. Now Jazz Jennings gives voice to her story in a new way by narrating what she calls her memoir on growing up transgender. Jennings’s youthful enthusiasm and her acute memories of the difficulties posed by being different from most of her peers make her the perfect choice for telling her own story. She reads quickly, with the familiar cadence and inflection of a teenager, and her story gives new insight into the current conversation on transgender issues. The library owns this in book and CD audiobook formats.