YA Nonfiction bestsellers

Off The Map

The Journals of Lewis and Clark

By: Meriwether Lewis
Narrated by: Pat Grimes
Length: 57 minutes

Lewis and Clark's famous 1804 expedition was told with great detail by the explorers themselves in an eight-volume account. Now young historians have the opportunity to learn the thrills, challenges, and adventures in a version accessible for them. Two years' worth of entries are condensed into a flowing account that maintains the historical... Read more

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning

By: Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
Narrated by: Jason Reynolds
Length: 4 hours 11 minutes

“If I had to choose one book to help start young people talking about race, I would pick this one. In fact, you need to read this book. Everyone should. Not only is it extremely approachable, it is also incredibly informative and inclusive. Most of the audiobook is read by Jason Reynolds, and I could not have picked a better narrator. Though it... Read more

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask

Young Readers Edition

By: Dr. Anton Treuer
Narrated by: Dr. Anton Treuer
Length: 8 hours 16 minutes

From the acclaimed Ojibwe author and professor Anton Treuer comes an essential book of questions and answers for Native and non-Native young listeners alike. Ranging from "Why is there such a fuss about nonnative people wearing Indian costumes for Halloween?" to "Why is it called a 'traditional Indian fry bread taco'?," "What's it like for... Read more

The Gender Binary is a Big Lie

Infinite Identities Around the World (Queer History Project)

By: Lee Wind
Narrated by: Diontae Black
Length: 6 hours 35 minutes

What if you discovered that the whole concept of a gender binary is an illusion?




While many people identify as men or women, that is not all there is. The idea that all humans fall into one of two gender categories is largely a construct created by those who benefit from that belief. The reality is that gender is naturally diverse, falling inside... Read more

Gender Queer

A Memoir

By: Maia Kobabe
Narrated by: Maia Kobabe, Trini Alvarado, Stephen Graybill, Phoebe Kobabe, Jeremy Carlisle Parker & Full Cast
Length: 1 hour 58 minutes

2020 ALA Alex Award Winner
2020 Stonewall — Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award Honor Book

The ground-breaking, bestselling graphic novel is now available on audio.

In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only... Read more

Accountable

The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed

By: Dashka Slater
Narrated by: Ariel Blake
Length: 9 hours 12 minutes

"The audiobook brings to light the power of social dynamics, questions the role of personal responsibility, and examines the fallout that occurred long after the event, affecting all involved for years."- AudioFile

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The 57 Bus comes Accountable, a propulsive and thought-provoking new young adult... Read more

All Boys Aren't Blue

A Memoir-Manifesto

By: George M. Johnson
Narrated by: George M. Johnson
Length: 5 hours 11 minutes

“After listening to this book, I was outraged to learn how widely banned it is across the country - This story needs to be told and shared. Read more

Learn Spanish with Paul Noble for Beginners – Complete Course

Spanish Made Easy with Your 1 million-best-selling Personal Language Coach

By: Paul Noble
Narrated by: Paul Noble
Length: 13 hours 20 minutes

No grammar tests. No memory drills. No chance of failure. Welcome to Learn with Paul Noble – a unique, tried and tested language learning method that has been used by almost a million people to speak fluently and confidently in no time at all. This course covers European and Latin American Spanish. Take a... Read more

Impossible Escape

A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe

By: Steve Sheinkin
Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
Length: 5 hours 45 minutes

From three-time National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor author Steve Sheinkin, a true story of two Jewish teenagers racing against time during the Holocaust―one in hiding in Hungary, and the other in Auschwitz, plotting escape.

It is 1944. A teenager named Rudolf (Rudi) Vrba has made up his mind. After barely surviving nearly two years in... Read more

Next Steps in German with Paul Noble for Intermediate Learners – Complete Course

German Made Easy with Your 1 million-best-selling Personal Language Coach

By: Paul Noble
Narrated by: Paul Noble
Length: 8 hours 26 minutes

No grammar tests. No memory drills. No chance of failure. Welcome to Learn with Paul Noble – a unique, tried and tested language learning method that has been used by almost a million people to speak fluently and confidently in no time at all. Take your German to the next level with Paul Noble's simple, relaxed... Read more

Hurdles in the Dark

My Story of Survival, Resilience, and Triumph

By: Elvira K. Gonzalez
Narrated by: Elvira K. Gonzalez
Length: 8 hours 56 minutes

This program is read by the author and includes music written by Ernesto Villalobos, Alberto Villalobos, Luis Villalobos and Humberto Flores, and performed by the Villalobos Brothers.

Educated meets Athlete A in this YA memoir about survival and strength by Elvira Gonzalez, a Mexican-American track star who found freedom from poverty and... Read more

The Case for Faith Student Edition

A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity

Case for … Series for Students

By: Lee Strobel
Narrated by: Mark Smeby
Length: 2 hours 19 minutes

Why is there suffering? Doesn't science disprove miracles? What about hell--and the millions who've never heard of Jesus? Is heaven for real? Lee Strobel decided to use his award-winning journalistic skills to investigate the idea of faith and prove that placing our trust in things we cannot see is a solid bet. This teen adaptation of The Case... Read more

You Have a Brain

A Teen's Guide to T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G.

By: Ben Carson, M.D.
Narrated by: Dan John Miller
Length: 6 hours 8 minutes

Eight proven principles to help you overcome your self-doubt, conquer your fear of the future, reverse negative thoughts about yourself, and hurdle any other obstacles standing between you and your dreams.But instead of letting his circumstances control him, Dr. Carson took control of his attitude and actions, leading to his discovery of eight... Read more

The Lost Rainforests of Britain

By: Guy Shrubsole
Narrated by: Guy Shrubsole
Length: 9 hours 3 minutes

WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION 2023 The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year As seen on Countryfile ‘If anyone was born to save Britain’s rainforests, it was Guy Shrubsole’... Read more

Beastly Brains

Exploring How Animals Think, Talk, and Feel

By: Nancy F. Castaldo
Narrated by: Charon Normand-Widmer
Length: 3 hours 10 minutes

In Beastly Brains, Nancy Castaldo delves into the minds of animals and explores animal empathy, communication, tool use, and social societies through interviews and historical anecdotes. Researchers from Charles Darwin to Jane Goodall have spent years analyzing the minds of animals, and today's science is revolutionizing old theories and... Read more

Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults)

A True Story of the Fight for Justice

By: Bryan Stevenson
Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
Length: 6 hours 35 minutes

The young adult adaptation of the acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestseller Just Mercy--now a major motion picture starring Michael B. Jordan, Jaime Foxx, and Brie Larson and the subject of an HBO documentary feature!

In this very personal work--adapted from the original #1 bestseller, which the New York Times calls "as compelling as To Kill a... Read more

Evangelical Heroes

Volume 1

By: Joel R. Beeke & Douglas Bond
Narrated by: Helen Langford, Tim H. Dixon, Sarah Zimmerman, Jonathan St. John & Simon Bubb
Length: 7 hours 9 minutes

What do George Whitefield, Elisabeth Elliot, and J. Gresham Machen have in common? They were all Evangelical Heroes. In Evangelical Heroes, Joel Beeke and Douglas Bond present thirty biographical sketches of faithful evangelical leaders from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. From George Whitfield to Charles Spurgeon to R.C.... Read more

Unequal

A Story of America

By: Michael Eric Dyson & Marc Favreau
Narrated by: Michael Eric Dyson
Length: 6 hours 46 minutes

Renowned, bestselling author Michael Eric Dyson makes his YA debut, with critically acclaimed author Marc Favreau, to deliver an urgent, enlightening account of racial inequality in America.
 
The true story of racial inequality—and resistance to it—is the prologue to our present. You can see it in where we live, where we go to school, where we... Read more

Beyond the Gender Binary

Pocket Change Collective

By: Alok Vaid-Menon
Narrated by: Alok Vaid-Menon
Length: 1 hour 7 minutes

Winner of the 2021 In The Margins Award
 
"When reading this book, all I feel is kindness."-- Sam Smith, Grammy and Oscar award-winning singer and songwriter
 
"Thank God we have Alok. And I'm learning a thing or two myself."--Billy Porter, Emmy award-winning actor, singer, and Broadway theater performer

"Beyond the Gender Binary will give readers... Read more

Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Narrated by: Monique Gray Smith
Length: 7 hours 44 minutes

Drawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things—from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen—provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her bestselling book Braiding Sweetgrass. Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces... Read more

George Washington

True Patriot

Heroes of History

By: Janet Benge & Geoff Benge
Narrated by: Tim Gregory
Length: 5 hours 43 minutes

Written for ages 10 and up -- enjoyed by adults!

Behind George were enemies; in front, a raging ice-packed river. Poling across had seemed his best chance, but now large blocks of ice slammed into his makeshift raft, twisting it off course. Just as George dug his pole in and pushed with all his might, a block of ice hit the raft -- the raft... Read more

Apple

(Skin to the Core)

By: Eric Gansworth
Narrated by: Eric Gansworth
Length: 8 hours 9 minutes

How about a book that makes you barge into your boss's office to read a page of poetry from? That you dream of? That every movie, song, book, moment that follows continues to evoke in some way?The term Apple is a slur in Native communities across the country. It's for someone supposedly red on the outside, white on the inside.Eric Gansworth is... Read more

The Black Friend

On Being a Better White Person

By: Frederick Joseph
Narrated by: Miebaka Yohannes
Length: 5 hours 9 minutes

Writing from the perspective of a friend, Frederick Joseph offers candid reflections on his own experiences with racism and conversations with prominent artists and activists about theirs—creating an essential read for white people who are committed anti-racists and those newly come to the cause of racial justice.“We don’t see color.” “I didn’t... Read more

Trans Mission

My Quest to a Beard

By: Alex Bertie
Narrated by: Alex Bertie
Length: 3 hours 52 minutes

A brave firsthand account of online personality Alex Bertie's life, struggles, and victories as a transgender teen, as well as a groundbreaking guide for transitioning teens.
Long before he became known for his YouTube videos, Alex Bertie was an isolated, often-afraid transgender teenager looking for answers. In this revolutionary memoir and... Read more

The 57 Bus

A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives

By: Dashka Slater
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 5 hours 43 minutes

The riveting New York Times bestseller and Stonewall Book Award winner that will make you rethink all you know about race, class, gender, crime, and punishment. Artfully, compassionately, and expertly told, Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus is a must-read nonfiction book for teens that chronicles the true story of an agender teen who was set on fire by... Read more

The Other F Word

A Celebration of the Fat & Fierce

By: Angie Manfredi
Narrated by: Marisa Blake, Shiromi Arserio, Timothy Andrés Pabon, Natalie Naudus & Robin Eller
Length: 5 hours 9 minutes

Chubby. Curvy. Fluffy. Plus-size. Thick. Fat. The time has come for fat people to tell their own stories. The (Other) F Word combines the voices of Renée Watson, Julie Murphy, Jes Baker, Samantha Irby, Bruce Sturgell, and more in a relatable and gift-worthy guide about body image and fat acceptance. This dazzling collection of poetry, essays,... Read more

We Are Not Broken

By: George M Johnson
Narrated by: George M Johnson
Length: 4 hours 3 minutes

George M. Johnson, activist and bestselling author ofAll Boys Aren't Blue, returns with a striking memoir that celebrates Black boyhood and brotherhood in all its glory.

This is the vibrant story of George, Garrett, Rall, and Rasul -- four children raised by Nanny, their fiercely devoted grandmother. The boys hold one another close through early... Read more

How Not to Fit In

An Unapologetic Guide to Navigating Autism and ADHD

By: Jess Joy & Charlotte Mia
Narrated by: Emily Essery
Length: 7 hours 5 minutes

’The lack of information around how ADHD and autism shows up in adults means that many of us have been assuming we were anxious, not working hard enough, or just entirely failing altogether.’ – Jess Joy and Charlotte Mia Written by two late-diagnosed neurodivergent women... Read more

Most Dangerous

Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War

By: Steve Sheinkin
Narrated by: Ray Porter
Length: 7 hours 51 minutes

From Steve Sheinkin, the award-winning author of The Port Chicago 50 and Bomb comes a tense, exciting exploration of what the Times deemed "the greatest story of the century": how Daniel Ellsberg transformed from obscure government analyst into "the most dangerous man in America," and risked everything to expose the government's deceit. On June... Read more

The Salt Thief: Gandhi's Heroic March to Freedom

By: Neal Bascomb
Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
Length: 5 hours 57 minutes

The dramatic story of Gandhi and India's long march to freedom by award-winning author Neal Bascomb.In 1930, the Indian people, long ruled by their British occupiers, were at a breaking point. No more could many stand the terrible demands of colonial rule. At this pivotal moment, Mohandas Gandhi, who had suffered firsthand for decades the... Read more

The Lady and the Octopus

How Jeanne Villepreux-Power Invented Aquariums and Revolutionized Marine Biology

By: Danna Staaf
Narrated by: Suzie Althens
Length: 4 hours 32 minutes

"Jeanne Villepreux-Power was never expected to be a scientist. Born in 1794 in a French village more than 100 miles from the ocean, she pursued an improbable path that brought her to the island of Sicily. There, she took up natural history and solved the two-thousand-year-old mystery of how the argonaut octopus gets its shell. In an era when... Read more

How to Be You

Stop Trying to Be Someone Else and Start Living Your Life

By: Jeffrey Marsh
Narrated by: Jeffrey Marsh
Length: 5 hours 41 minutes

Too short. Too weird. Too quiet. Not true. Let Internet superstar Jeffrey Marsh help you end those negative thoughts and discover how wonderful you are.
 
An interactive experience, How to Be You invites you to make the audiobook your own through activities such as answering questions about how you do the things you do, and discovering patterns... Read more

Flamboyants

The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known

By: George M. Johnson
Narrated by: George M. Johnson
Length: 2 hours 23 minutes

““Change ain’t over night but is damn sure necessary.” George M. Johnson brings to life the stories of Black, queer icons of the Harlem Renaissance, shedding light on the deep intersections of race, sexuality, and identity. Through powerful reflections on racism and homophobia in spaces meant for refuge, this book speaks vital truths. A... Read more

Bless the Blood

A Cancer Memoir

By: Walela Nehanda
Narrated by: Walela Nehanda
Length: 6 hours 16 minutes

A searing debut YA poetry and essay collection about a Black cancer patient who faces medical racism after being diagnosed with leukemia in their early twenties, for fans of Audre Lorde's The Cancer Journals and Laurie Halse Anderson's Shout.

When Walela is diagnosed at twenty-three with advanced stage blood cancer, they're suddenly thrust into... Read more

What the Fact?

Finding the Truth in All the Noise

By: Seema Yasmin
Narrated by: Seema Yasmin
Length: 9 hours 25 minutes

“For anyone feeling overwhelmed by the plethora of misinformation, disinformation, falsehoods, and other methods of muddling reality, this book is a fantastic resource. In accessible, conversational language, rife with examples real and hypothetical, Dr. Seema Yasmin breaks down the different types of bad info, how it spreads, why it spreads, and... Read more

Learn German with Paul Noble for Beginners – Complete Course

German Made Easy with Your 1 million-best-selling Personal Language Coach

By: Paul Noble
Narrated by: Paul Noble
Length: 12 hours 13 minutes

No grammar tests. No memory drills. No chance of failure. Welcome to Learn with Paul Noble – a unique, tried and tested language learning method that has been used by almost a million people to speak fluently and confidently in no time at all. Take a simple, relaxed approach to learning a language that has been... Read more

Queer Ducks (and Other Animals)

The Natural World of Animal Sexuality

By: Eliot Schrefer
Narrated by: Joel Froomkin, Dustin Ballard, Hope Newhouse & Neo Cihi
Length: 5 hours 44 minutes

This groundbreaking YA nonfiction title from two-time National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Eliot Schrefer is a well-researched and teen-friendly exploration of the gamut of queer behaviors observed in animals.A quiet revolution has been underway in recent years, with study after study revealing substantial same-sex... Read more

Learn French with Paul Noble for Beginners – Complete Course

French Made Easy with Your 1 million-best-selling Personal Language Coach

By: Paul Noble
Narrated by: Paul Noble
Length: 12 hours 37 minutes

No grammar tests. No memory drills. No chance of failure. Welcome to Learn with Paul Noble – a unique, tried and tested language learning method that has been used by almost a million people to speak fluently and confidently in no time at all. Take a simple, relaxed approach to learning a language that has been... Read more

Don't Look Back

A Memoir of War, Survival, and My Journey from Sudan to America

By: Achut Deng & Keely Hutton
Narrated by: Nedra Marie Taylor
Length: 9 hours 36 minutes

In this propulsive memoir from Achut Deng and Keely Hutton, inspired by a harrowing New York Times article, Don't Look Back tells a powerful story showing both the ugliness and the beauty of humanity, and the power of not giving up.

I want life.

After a deadly attack in South Sudan left six-year-old Achut Deng without a family, she lived in... Read more

Black Indians

A Hidden Heritage

By: William Loren Katz
Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
Length: 6 hours 1 minute

The compelling account of how two heritages united in their struggle to gain freedom and equality in America.

The first paths to freedom taken by runaway slaves led to Native American villages. There, black men and women found acceptance and friendship among our country's original inhabitants. Though they seldom appear in textbooks and movies,... Read more

Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed

15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora

By: Saraciea J. Fennell
Narrated by: Avi Roque, Elizabeth Acevedo, Frankie Corzo, Ibi Zoboi, Janel Martinez, Jasminne Mendez, Julian Randall, Khalil Haywood, Lilliam Rivera, Natasha Diaz, Saraciea J. Fennell & Zakiya N. Jamal
Length: 7 hours 19 minutes

This program is read by a full cast.

Edited by The Bronx Is Reading founder Saraciea J. Fennell and featuring an all-star cast of Latinx contributors, Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed is a ground-breaking anthology that will spark dialogue and inspire hope

In Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, bestselling and award-winning authors as well as up-and-coming... Read more

Money Out Loud

All the Financial Stuff No One Taught Us

By: Berna Anat
Narrated by: Berna Anat
Length: 7 hours 8 minutes

So no one taught you about money, either? Let’s figure this me$$ out together. In this illustrated, deeply unserious guide to money, Berna Anat—aka the Financial Hype Woman—freaks out her immigrant parents by doing the unthinkable: Talking about money. Loudly. Because we’re done staying silent, anxious, and ashamed about our money. It's time to... Read more

UFO of GOD

The Extraordinary True Story of Chris Bledsoe

By: Chris Bledsoe
Narrated by: Daniel Roueche
Length: 7 hours 54 minutes

* * SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE * *The case began 16 years ago and the government was the only one that listened. Why is that? “The Invisible College took notice…and so should you.” —Jim Semivan, CIAAre the biblical stories of angels in the Old Testament being witnessed today? Are UFOs messengers from God?Chris Bledsoe, a deeply religious... Read more

Symphony for the City of the Dead

Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad

By: M. T. Anderson
Narrated by: M. T. Anderson
Length: 10 hours 20 minutes

A 2016 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults FinalistNational Book Award winner M. T. Anderson delivers a brilliant and riveting account of the Siege of Leningrad and the role played by Russian composer Shostakovich and his Leningrad Symphony.In September 1941, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to... Read more

True or False

A CIA Analyst's Guide to Spotting Fake News

By: Cindy L. Otis
Narrated by: Erin Dion
Length: 7 hours 18 minutes

"Fake news" is a term you’ve probably heard a lot in the last few years, but it’s not a new phenomenon. From the ancient Egyptians to the French Revolution to Jack the Ripper and the founding fathers, fake news has been around as long as human civilization. But that doesn’t mean that we should just give up on the idea of finding the truth. In... Read more

Farewell to Manzanar

By: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston & James D. Houston
Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
Length: 5 hours

The powerful true story of life in a Japanese American internment camp.During World War II the community called Manzanar was hastily created in the high mountain desert country of California, east of the Sierras. Its purpose was to house thousands of Japanese American internees. One of the first families to arrive was the Wakatsukis, who were... Read more

Vincent and Theo

The Van Gogh Brothers

By: Deborah Heiligman
Narrated by: Phil Fox
Length: 9 hours 28 minutes

The deep and enduring friendship between Vincent and Theo Van Gogh defined both brothers' lives. As a confidant, champion, sympathizer, and friend, Theo financially and emotionally supported his older brother as the artistic but troubled Vincent struggled to find his path in life as both a painter and a man. Throughout that struggle, the... Read more

Funny, You Don't Look Autistic

A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum

By: Michael McCreary
Narrated by: Michael McCreary
Length: 3 hours 37 minutes

Like many others on the autism spectrum, 20-something stand-up comic Michael McCreary has been told by more than a few well-meaning folks that he doesn’t “look” autistic. But, as he’s quick to point out in this memoir, autism “looks” different for just about everyone with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Diagnosed with ASD at age five, McCreary... Read more

Bonnie and Clyde

The Making of a Legend

By: Karen Blumenthal
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
Length: 5 hours 23 minutes

Bonnie and Clyde may be the most notorious—and celebrated—outlaw couple America has ever known. This is the true story of how they got that way.Bonnie and Clyde—we’ve been on a first name basis with them for almost a hundred years. Immortalized in movies, songs, and pop-culture references, they are remembered mostly for their storied romance... Read more

Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States

By: J. Albert Mann
Narrated by: Sandy Rustin
Length: 9 hours 20 minutes

“A necessary history perfectly written for teens (and adults with short attention spans)!! A compilation of all the strikes and human effort that has gone into minimum wage and general working laws today. Inspiring and eye-opening, especially considering both how far and how LITTLE minimum wage has come amidst a rising cost of living. Read more