Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this historical novel set at the end of the Vietnam War. Aoife Hinds, Ioanna Kimbook, and Ainsleigh Barber perform this stunning debut that follows three orphaned Vietnamese refugees. Siblings Anh, Thanh, and Minh flee Vietnam at the end of the war, hoping to meet their parents at a refugee camp in Hong Kong. But after the rest of their family...

Simon Bubb’s whimsical narration sets the stage for Lewis Carroll’s classic tales of Wonderland. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss the fun of listening to this collection, part of this summer’s Audiobook SYNC program and available free to teen listeners in July. In addition to the more familiar ALICE IN WONDERLAND and ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, the collection includes sh...

Julia Lee performs her new essay collection that explores the complex lived reality of being the child of working class Korean immigrants in California. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss Lee’s emotional performance of the audiobook. During the 1992 riots in her hometown of Los Angeles, Lee had a front-row seat to the horrors of white supremacy. As she attends college and moves...

Victoria Villarreal becomes the voice of a loving, tormented family member, Cristina Rivera Garza, who is seeking information about the murder of her sister Liliana. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this audiobook that bears witness to Liliana’s life. Villarreal uses a soft yet determined voice to characterize Cristina on her journey to find justice for her sister, and she ca...

In this new series, Mara Wilson narrates as the audacious heroine Sister Holiday, a queer, tattoo-covered nun brimming with a talent for solving mysteries. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile contributor Kendra Winchester discuss Wilson’s incredible performance as this nun with a chip on her shoulder. She creates Sister as a chain-smoking paradox, and listeners will be delighted with the depth of her emoti...

American poet Maggie Smith beautifully narrates her memoir about the end of her marriage and rediscovering herself as she picks up the pieces. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss the intimacy of listening to Smith narrate her own memoir, which is structured as a series of short narratives walking listeners through her life transition. Starting with her heartbreak, the memoir explores...

An ensemble of voices delivers this candid collection of interviews with gender-nonconforming teens who struggle to be accepted. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this collection available this summer for free through AudioFile’s SYNC program in June. Tanya Eby voices author Susan Kuklin, narrating in a neutral yet respectful tone that allows the more emotional stories conveyed by...

Eunice Wong’s brisk performance perfectly suits Jesse Q. Sutano’s humorous yet poignant cozy mystery. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this quirky mystery and its unforgettable protagonist, the 60-year-old Chinese immigrant, Vera Wong. Vera’s lonely existence takes a wild turn when she discovers a dead body in her rundown San Francisco tea shop and decides to investigate. Vera is...

Physician Ricardo Nuila brings the full extent of his passion for people to his narration of his experiences with American healthcare. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this fascinating deep dive into the safety net system in Houston, Texas, focused on the public hospital Ben Taub. On staff at that hospital, Nuila saw firsthand the destructive aspects of for-profit healthcare and h...

Dr. Nahvi processes many experiences as an emergency room doctor, and Aden Hakimi effectively channels the author’s reflectiveness and compassion. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss how the author leads off the audiobook with a glimpse inside the chaos and bravery of a Manhattan ER at the start of COVID. Hakimi’s presence is assured and calm as he delivers terrible stories with care...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss two recent audiobooks written and read by former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation). Harjo shares short vignettes about her life and her inspiration for her poetry in CATCHING THE LIGHT, and her wide-ranging topics include language, Native American history, music, and human nature, with her soft and strong voice. She meditates on why sh...

Today, the 14th season of AudioFile’s SYNC launches, and Robin Whitten tells host Jo Reed about this year’s excellent season of free audiobooks for teens, including YOU CAN’T SAY THAT! It’s a collection of interviews with authors of YA books about censorship and free expression, and it could not be more timely. Listen to hear professional narrators bring interviews with authors to life, including...

With her keen talent for British accents, narrator Orlagh Cassidy masterfully delivers this stand-alone historical mystery from Jacqueline Winspear. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Winspear’s new heroine, Elinor White. The story moves around in time from White’s life in Britain in 1947, to her recruitment in the Belgian Resistance as a teen during WWI, and her work as an SOE age...

From the opening lines, narrator Mela Lee draws listeners into this thriller. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss an audiobook with an action-packed plot. Tom, the recently remarried widower; Heather, the younger new wife; and Tom’s children travel to Australia for a medical conference. Then the family adventure turns into a terrifying situation on a remote island. As the bad goes w...

Kristen Sieh narrates Jenny Odell’s audiobook that is a dazzling meditation on the possibilities and abuses of time. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss how Sieh gives a lovely, engaging performance of this wide-ranging compilation. Sieh narrates with emotional breadth and cultural awareness in this book with its sprawling range of perspectives, historical references, and moving per...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about the fun of listening to Christina Soontornvat’s middle-grade graphic memoir translated into audio. Grace Li leads the narration as young Christina, a seventh grader navigating a particularly intense cheerleading tryout—plus a lot of middle-school drama. Christina was the only Thai American kid in her small town Texas school, and she faced micr...

Billie Fulford-Brown narrates this contemporary British novel from Alice Oseman, author of the HEARTSTOPPER series. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this emotional audiobook about a memorable first year at University. Eighteen-year-old Georgia has never kissed anyone, had a crush, dated, or fallen in love—and really hasn’t ever wanted any of those things. As she begins her first...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss how Kyla Garcia brings this award-winning 2018 novel by Cynthia Leitich Smith to life for listeners. Louise Wolfe is a smart and curious high school senior in Kansas, and a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation. Garcia’s bright narration suits the character as she finds her voice in the school paper, navigates crushes, and thinks about the future....

Joniece Abbott-Pratt and Zeno Robinson beautifully capture the voices of Cristina and Clement Trudeau, Black teenage twins growing up in a magical New Orleans family. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this action-packed YA fantasy from Terry J. Benton-Walker. A year after their father’s death, the twins fear their mother is soon to follow. Then they discover she isn’t just ill, b...

Jennifer Kim movingly narrates a raw and relatable memoir about grief and loss from Nicole Chung, author of ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Chung’s story of moving away from her parents and starting her own family, and the heartbreaking loss of both of her parents. Kim’s somber narration sensitively navigates the immense guilt and grief that Chung experie...

David Grann’s enthralling audiobook is performed by a masterful narrator, Dion Graham. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss an audiobook that details the true story of HMS WAGER, an English warship that sailed in the 1740s. Graham delivers the nautical adventures at a strong pace with a mesmerizing cadence and impeccable timing. The excitement and peril of the high seas are captured...

Patrick Harrison combines a fine storytelling style with a sure sense of the dramatic and a good tempo as he narrates Malcom Harris’s monumental work. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this activist’s look at his hometown and the powerful institutions that reside there, revealing the dark side of Silicon Valley. The thesis is that technological innovators and their political allie...

Lessa Lamb narrates Erica Berry’s audiobook about wolves with a fine tone and timbre. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how she inhabits the youthful sound and elegant style of this layered audiobook. Lamb’s timing and sense of occasion add richness to its informed foray into all things wolf as she captures the drama, fear, and anxiety that underlie the immersive presentation. The...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff talk about a fun history of food lore and language from Judith Tschann, and Alejandra Reynoso’s gifted narration. This witty treasury of food lore will enlighten listeners curious about the origin of the fine French wine Chateau Neuf de Pape or how the orange, the fruit, gave its name to the color. Reynoso establishes just the right tone and cadence for a...

Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate activist, has a voice that rings with passion, palpable emotion, and earnest commitment. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss her audiobook of essays, where she’s joined by a talented trio of English narrators bringing skill and understanding to the text. Climate experts and other scientists sound the alarm about the shocking state of our war...