Kids Confront a Changing World
About this episode
Jo Reed discusses three middle-grade audiobooks that address complex themes with young readers' editor Laura Simeon.
Host Jo Reed talks with Kirkus young readers’ editor Laura Simeon about three middle-grade audiobooks that explore difficult subjects with honesty, empathy, and respect for young listeners. In Phoenix by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, narrator Emma Ladji brings warmth and steadiness to young Harper’s story as she navigates her parents’ divorce, shifting friendships, and the rescued horse who becomes central to her new life. Karise Yansen’s calm, measured narration of Matthew Fox’s The Lovely Dark grounds a lyrical story of grief, loss, and the afterlife in vivid emotional reality. And in Tae Keller’s When Tomorrow Burns, a seamless ensemble cast—Eddy Lee, Annie Q. Riegel, Sara Matsui-Colby, Emily Woo Zeller, and Tae Keller—captures the uncertainty and intensity of middle school friendships unfolding against the backdrop of climate anxiety and change. Together, these audiobooks recognize that middle-grade kids confront complicated situations and deserve stories that speak to those uncertainties with honesty and care. Audiobooks Discussed: Phoenix by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, read by Emma Ladji (Listening Library) The Lovely Dark by Matthew Fox, read by Karise Yansen (Hachette Audio)…
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HarperCollins Focus, HarperCollins Christian Publishing
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