Bookshop Santa Cruz - Kids & YA

This Time Will Be Different

By: Misa Sugiura
Narrated by: Joy Osmanski
Length: 9 hours 23 minutes

“This Time Will Be Different was a pleasure to listen to, although the story wasn’t all sunshine and daisies. Seventeen-year-old CJ works with her aunt at their family-owned flower shop in California. She’s not sure that she believes in flower magic or romance, but CJ has a knack for choosing and arranging stems to suit any occasion. She loves... Read more

Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World

By: Ashley Herring Blake
Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
Length: 6 hours 6 minutes

In the wake of a destructive tornado, one girl develops feelings for another in this stunning, tender novel about emerging identity, perfect for fans of The Thing About Jellyfish.

When a tornado rips through town, twelve-year-old Ivy Aberdeen's house is destroyed and her family of five is displaced. Ivy feels invisible and ignored in the... Read more

The Sun is Also a Star

By: Nicola Yoon
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Raymond Lee & Dominic Hoffman
Length: 8 hours 3 minutes

The #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist from the bestselling author of Everything, Everything will have you falling in love with Natasha and Daniel as they fall in love with each other.

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not... Read more

On the Come Up

By: Angie Thomas
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 11 hours 42 minutes

Don't miss this audiobook, Audible's Young Adult Audiobook of the Year and an Audie Award finalist!The YA love letter to hip-hop—streaming on Paramount+ September 23, 2022! Starring Sanaa Lathan (in her directorial debut), Jamila C. Gray, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Lil Yachty, Method Man, Mike Epps, GaTa (Davionte Ganter), Miles... Read more

Dragon Pearl

By: Yoon Ha Lee
Narrated by: Kim Mai Guest
Length: 10 hours 18 minutes

“Adventure, Shape shifting, forbidden space travel, mythical magic, and a girl willing to cross the galaxy in search of her missing brother - putting her own safety second. Excellent book! So much fun and I learned a lot about Korean Mythology! I listened to this on Libro.FM and it was fantastically produced! Read more

Furyborn

The Empirium Trilogy: Book #1

By: Claire Legrand
Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham
Length: 17 hours 23 minutes

The stunningly original, must-read fantasy follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world...or doom it.

When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove... Read more

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe

A Sal and Gabi Novel: Book #1

By: Carlos Hernandez
Narrated by: Anthony Rey Perez
Length: 9 hours 34 minutes

“This book was so much fun! The narrator captures the characters so well. I was laughing out loud at the ridiculous situations Sal and Gabi find themselves in, while feeling deeply when confronted with real issues such as friends with hard home lives and sick infants. I love the union of practical magic with science and the unknown. One of my... Read more

With the Fire on High

By: Elizabeth Acevedo
Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo
Length: 7 hours 26 minutes

“This was a great listen. Emoni, a single teen mom, has so much on her plate and has maturity beyond her years. She’s realistic and responsible and navigates high school, parenting, college decisions and a budding love interest. She’s becoming a talented chef and her feelings are expressed in her food. The author narrates and she had me hooked... Read more

New Kid

By: Jerry Craft
Narrated by: Jesus Del Orden, Nile Bullock, Robin Miles, Guy Lockard, Peyton Lusk, Rebecca Soler, Dan Bittner, Phoebe Strole, Marc Thompson, Miles Harvey & Ron Butler
Length: 1 hour 58 minutes

2020 Audie Awards® Finalist—Middle GradeWinner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature, and an Audie Award finalist!
An original full-cast audio adaptation of the graphic novel from award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft, performed by the author with Jesus Del Orden, Nile... Read more

Like Vanessa

By: Tami Charles
Narrated by: Channie Waites
Length: 7 hours 38 minutes

Middle graders will laugh and cry with thirteen-year-old Vanessa Martin as she tries to be like Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America, by reluctantly entering her own beauty pageant. In this semi-autobiographical debut novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin's real-life reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey is... Read more

To Night Owl From Dogfish

By: Holly Goldberg Sloan & Meg Wolitzer
Narrated by: Imani Parks, Cassandra Morris, Michael Crouch, Sullivan Jones, Bahni Turpin, Renata Friedman, Cassandra Campbell, Robbie Daymond, Giordan Diaz, Alexandra Harris, Johnathan McClain, Emily Rankin & Various
Length: 6 hours 13 minutes

From two extraordinary authors comes a moving, exuberant, laugh-out-loud novel about friendship and family, told entirely in emails and letters.

Avery Bloom, who's bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who's fearless, outgoing, and loves all animals as well as the ocean, lives... Read more

Sorcery of Thorns

By: Margaret Rogerson
Narrated by: Emily Ellet
Length: 14 hours 20 minutes

“Amazing! I wonderful fantasy I loved every bit of. The narrator brought this story to life, and I was hypnotized the entire time. This story has some of my favorite elements in it. A strong, smart heroine? Check. A charming hero with demons and a chip on his shoulder? Check. An evil threatening the safety of the world? Check. Elizabeth is such... Read more

Other Words for Home

By: Jasmine Warga
Narrated by: Vaneh Assadourian
Length: 3 hours 49 minutes

“Jasmine Warga's verse beautifully illustrate the struggles and heartache when starting a new life. Through the eyes of a young Syrian girl we learn the hopes and dreams not so unlike any other kid. We learn the conflicts faced when moving to a new country and trying to create a home in America. A great listen!! Read more

A Good Kind of Trouble

By: Lisa Moore Ramée
Narrated by: Imani Parks
Length: 6 hours 45 minutes

From debut author Lisa Moore Ramée comes this funny and big-hearted debut middle grade novel about friendship, family, and standing up for what’s right, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give and the novels of Renée Watson and Jason Reynolds.Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules.... Read more

Once & Future

By: Cory McCarthy & A. R. Capetta
Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
Length: 10 hours 55 minutes

King Arthur as you've never seen her! This bold, sizzling YA novel reimagines the Once and Future King as a teenage girl determined to save the universe from an evil curse.
My name is Ari Helix. I have a magic sword, a cranky wizard, and a revolution to start.
I've been chased my whole life. As a fugitive refugee in the territory controlled by the... Read more

Black Enough

By: Ibi Zoboi, Tracey Baptiste, Coleen Booth, Dhonielle Clayton, Brandy Colbert, Jay Coles, Lamar Giles, Leah Henderson, Justina Ireland, Varian Johnson, Kekla Magoon, Tochi Onyebuchi, Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, Liara Tamani, Renée Watson & Rita Williams-Garcia
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin & Ron Butler
Length: 11 hours 14 minutes

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today—Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List.Black is...sisters... Read more