SYNC Audiobooks for Teens, a yearly summer audiobook program for teens 13 years old and up, is back in its 11th season to offer free audiobooks weekly beginning April 30 until July 29. Interested participants from all over the world—not just from the U.S.—get two free audiobook downloads per week which they can keep even after the program is over. Anyone (not just teens) who might be interested in young adult audiobooks is welcome to join.
This year, the Sora student reading app, which is different from Libby and the main OverDrive app, will be used to access the audiobook files. Each title will be available for download for seven days during their corresponding weeks. When a new week begins, the previous titles will be gone, so listeners are encouraged to download all of the titles so that they won’t regret missing them. The 26 audiobooks are mostly backlist—published between 2015 and 2019—with some classics added as well. Interested in checking them out? Here are they:
Week 1 (April 30–May 6)
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater, narrated by Robin Miles Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson, narrated by Imani Parks
Week 2 (May 7–May 13)
Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert, narrated by James Chen Secret Soldiers by Paul B. Janeczko, narrated by Ron Butler
Week 3 (May 14–May 20)
Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, narrated by Philippe Duquenoy Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco, narrated by Nicola Barber
Week 4 (May 21–May 27)
Sisters Matsumoto by Philip Kan Gotanda, narrated by Keiko Agena, June Angela, Ron Bottitta, Kurt Kanazawa, Suzy Nakamura, Greg Watanabe, and Ryun Yu Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork, narrated by Roxana Ortega and Christian Barillas
Week 5 (May 28–June 3)
In Search of Us by Ava Dellaira, narrated by Adenrele Ojo Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin, narrated by Holter Graham and Saskia Maarleveld
Week 6 (June 4–June 10)
Like No Other by Una LaMarche, narrated by Phoebe Strole and Leslie Odom Jr. Into White by Randi Pink, narrated by Adenrele Ojo
Week 7 (June 11–June 17)
Easy Prey by Catherine Lo, narrated by Nick Mondelli, Elizabeth Cottle, and Jack Meloche Mark of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse, narrated by Jaimee Draper
Week 8 (June 18–June 24)
The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg, narrated by Joel Froomkin and Anthony Ray Perez The Brontë Plot by Katherine Reay, narrated by Laura Kirman
Week 9 (June 25–July 1)
The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais, narrated by Chloe Dolandis Mexican WhiteBoy by Matt de la Peña, narrated by Henry Leyva
Week 10 (July 2–July 8)
Fresh Ink by Lamar Gites, narrated by Guy Lockard, Kim Mai Guest, Bahni Turpin, and a full cast Hope Nation by Rose Brock, narrated by a full cast
Week 11 (July 9–July 15)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, narrated by Alison Larkin Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, narrated by Stella Gonet, Gerard Murphy, and a full cast
Week 12 (July 16–July 22)
Fake by Exic Simonson, narrated by Francis Guinan, Kate Arrington, Coburn Goss, Alan Wilder, and Larry Yando New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson, narrated by Suzanne Toren, Robin Miles, Peter Ganim, Jay Snyder, Caitlin Kelly, Michael Crouch, and Ryan Vincent Anderson
Week 13 (July 23–July 29)
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, narrated by Kim Staunton Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina, narrated by Marisol Ramirez Listeners need to sign up to the newsletter on the program’s website to get alerts each week when the audiobooks are available for access. Listeners can also visit it for instructions on how to set up their Sora accounts before the program begins. Details on how to install Sora can be found on OverDrive’s website. Launched in 2010, SYNC Audiobooks for Teens is a yearly program sponsored by AudioFile Magazine in partnership with OverDrive and select audiobook publishers. The program wants to demonstrate that “required reading can be completed by listening.” Want more free audiobooks all year long? Check out these 11 Websites to Find Thousands of Free Audiobooks Online.
