Summer School Listening List
Iconoclast Books summer school listening lists for middle and high schoolers.
Pax
By Sara Pennypacker
Narrated by: Michael Curran-Dorsano
Length: 5 hours 31 minutes
National Book Award Longlist * New York Times Bestseller * An Amazon Best Book of the Year
From bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker comes a beautifully wrought, utterly compelling novel about the powerful relationship between a boy and his fox. Pax is destined to become a classic, beloved for generations to come.
Pax and Peter... Read more »
Dumplin'
Dumplin’: Book #1
By Julie Murphy
Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
Length: 9 hours 1 minutes
Now a popular Netflix feature film, starring Jennifer Aniston, Danielle Macdonald, and Dove Cameron, as well as a soundtrack from Dolly Parton!
The #1 New York Times bestseller and feel-good YA of the year—about Willowdean Dixon, the fearless, funny, and totally unforgettable heroine who takes on her small town’s beauty pageant.
Self-proclaimed... Read more »
Puddin'
Dumplin’: Book #2
By Julie Murphy
Narrated by: Erin Mallon & Kyla Garcia
Length: 11 hours 9 minutes
The irresistible companion to the #1 New York Times bestseller Dumplin’, now a Netflix feature film starring Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston, and a soundtrack by Dolly Parton!
Millie Michalchuk has gone to fat camp every year since she was a little girl. Not this year. This year she has new plans to chase her secret dream of being a... Read more »
The Hate U Give
By Angie Thomas
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 11 hours 40 minutes
The Hate U Give
“This bestselling, powerful young adult novel about social justice and one teen girl's effort to fight for what is right, will leave you breathless. The narration by Bahni Turpin is hands down the best I've ever heard. This is such an important book it should be required reading for life in general. Or listening. Definitely listening.”
Kristen, Tattered Cover
Orphan Island
By Laurel Snyder
Narrated by: Kim Mai Guest
Length: 7 hours 46 minutes
A National Book Award Longlist title!
"A wondrous book, wise and wild and deeply true." —Kelly Barnhill, Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon
"This is one of those books that haunts you long after you read it. Thought-provoking and magical." —Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series
In the tradition of modern-day... Read more »
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
Montague Siblings: Book #1
By Mackenzi Lee
Narrated by: Christian Coulson
Length: 10 hours 47 minutes
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
“The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is told by Henry “Monty” Montague, a young lord from Britain who has more than a secret or two. Henry has been struggling with the fact that he is in love with his best friend, Percy, who has secrets of his own to hide. Together, along with Henry’s sister, Felicity, they start their grand tour of Europe and Monty knows that this might be his last chance at having fun before he takes over his father’s estate and Percy goes away to study law. Mackenzi Lee wrote a beautiful story about a young man coming to terms with the fact that he is attracted to boys more than girls, and that he needs to start being true to himself to be happy. All three of them grew up as the story progressed and learned things not only about themselves, but also about each other. Gentleman’s Guide takes you on more than a tour through the continent, it takes you on a journey of discovering who you are and being okay with who that is.”
Victoria, Mysterious Galaxy Books
Monday's Not Coming
By Tiffany D. Jackson
Narrated by: Imani Parks
Length: 10 hours 6 minutes
Monday's Not Coming
“This heartbreaking, mind-bending thriller reads like truth: Monday Charles, a young black girl who lives in poverty, whose care has been shifted from one agency to another until no one knows who is supposed be looking out for her, disappears at the beginning of a long, hot, DC summer. But only her best friend Claudia registers her disappearance. Everyone else assumes she's moved, she's living with another relative, she's dropped out of school. As Claudia struggles to find allies to help her in her search for Monday, she also struggles to reconcile the Monday she thought she knew with the girl who was fighting for her life against the ponderous bulk of an uncaring system. This book is a tragic wake-up call in an era where the lives of some missing girls are still given more weight than the lives of others.”
Emily, Inklings Bookshop
Far from the Tree
By Robin Benway
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
Length: 8 hours 54 minutes
National Book Award Winner, PEN America Award Winner, and New York Times Bestseller!
Perfect for fans of This Is Us, Robin Benway’s beautiful interweaving story of three very different teenagers connected by blood explores the meaning of family in all its forms—how to find it, how to keep it, and how to love it.
Being the middle child has its ups... Read more »
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Mysterious Benedict Society: Book #1
By Trenton Lee Stewart
Narrated by: Del Roy
Length: 13 hours 15 minutes
ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD Looking for special opportunities?
When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear listener, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret... Read more »
A Wrinkle in Time
By Madeleine L'Engle
Narrated by: Hope Davis, Ava DuVernay, Madeleine L'Engle & Charlotte Jones Voiklis
Length: 6 hours 26 minutes
Madeleine L'Engle's ground-breaking science fiction and fantasy classic, now a major motion picture. This audiobook includes an introduction read by the film director Ava DuVernay, a foreword read by the author, and an afterword read by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Jones Voiklis.
Meg Murray, her little brother Charles Wallace, and... Read more »
Every Day
By David Levithan
Narrated by: Alex McKenna
Length: 8 hours 24 minutes
A special movie tie-in edition of David Levithan's New York Times bestseller, now a major motion picture starring Angourie Rice of Spiderman: Homecoming and The Nice Guys--in theaters February 23, 2018!
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There's never any warning about where it will be or... Read more »
Thank You for Arguing, Third Edition
What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion
By Jay Heinrichs
Narrated by: Jay Heinrichs
Length: 14 hours 33 minutes
A master class in the art of persuasion, as taught by professors ranging from Bart Simpson to Winston Churchill, newly revised and updated.
The time-tested secrets taught in this book include Cicero's three-step strategy for moving an audience to action, and Honest Abe's Shameless Trick for lowering an audience's expectations. And it's also... Read more »
Turtles All the Way Down
By John Green
Narrated by: Kate Rudd
Length: 7 hours 11 minutes
FEATURED ON 60 MINUTES and FRESH AIR
“So surprising and moving and true that I became completely unstrung.” – The New York Times
Named a best book of the year by: The New York Times, NPR, TIME, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, Southern Living, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, A.V. Club, Bustle, BuzzFeed, Vulture, and many... Read more »
I Have Lost My Way
By Gayle Forman
Narrated by: Nicole Lewis, Sunil Malhotra & Michael Crouch
Length: 7 hours 28 minutes
A powerful display of empathy and friendship from the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of If I Stay.
The New York Times bestseller from the author of If I Stay
"Heartwrenching...If you are ready to be emotionally wrecked yet again, you are in luck." - Hypable
A fateful accident draws three strangers together over the course of a single... Read more »
We Are All Made of Molecules
By Susin Nielsen
Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie & Jesse Bernstein
Length: 5 hours 43 minutes
*"This savvy, insightful take on the modern family makes for nearly nonstop laughs."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred
Stewart, 13: Socially clueless genius.
Ashley, 14: Popular with everyone but her teachers
Ashley's and Stewart's worlds collide when Stewart and his dad move in with Ashley and her mom. The Brady Bunch it isn't. Stewart is trying to be... Read more »
The War That Saved My Life
By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle
Length: 7 hours 37 minutes
Winner of the 2016 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production
An exceptionally moving story of triumph against all odds set during World War 2, from the acclaimed author of Jefferson’s Sons and for fans of Number the Stars.
Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to... Read more »
Girl in Pieces
By Kathleen Glasgow
Narrated by: Julia Whelan & Kathleen Glasgow
Length: 10 hours 41 minutes
For fans of Girl, Interrupted, Thirteen Reasons Why, and All the Bright Places comes a novel Nicola Yoon, author of Everything, Everything, calls "a haunting, beautiful, and necessary book that will stay with you long after you've read the last page."
Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people do in a... Read more »
The Boys in the Boat
Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
By Daniel James Brown
Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
Length: 14 hours 24 minutes
The Boys in the Boat
“Determined to beat the odds, nine working-class boys from the University of Washington's rowing team overcome a depressive beginning to defeat the world at Hitler's 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Underdogs from day one, fighting poverty and privilege along the way, this crew shocks all with their unbelievable come-from-behind effort to become gold medalists. Filled with details of a post-Depression and a pre-WWII era, this is the inspiring tale of a team winning the hearts of a nation while achieving their lifelong dream. Read by Edward Herrman, "The Boys in the Boat" is a must-listen for all non-fiction fans.”
Kristin, McLean & Eakin Booksellers
The BFG
By Roald Dahl
Narrated by: David Walliams
Length: 4 hours 25 minutes
“Roald Dahl sometimes shared a tonal kinship with Ogden Nash, and he could demonstrate a verbal inventiveness nearly Seussian…[His] stories work better in audio than in print.” –The New York Times
Captured by a giant!
The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It's lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried... Read more »
Everything, Everything
By Nicola Yoon
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin & Robbie Daymond
Length: 6 hours 43 minutes
Risk everything . . . for love with this #1 New York Times bestseller.
What if you couldn’t touch anything in the outside world? Never breathe in the fresh air, feel the sun warm your face . . . or kiss the boy next door? In Everything, Everything, Maddy is a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly is the boy who moves in... Read more »