What's New? Stacking the Shelves - ALAAC/Audiobook Edition

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Hop on over there to ogle what other bloggers got this week.

I spent five days in Chicago at ALA Annual Conference and it was A-Mazing! I got a few books. Five or six boxes worth of books. I decided to focus first on the audiobooks I bought or received at the conference. 

As I mentioned in an earlier ALAAC17 post, I always stop by the BOT booth and buy 5 audiobooks. They usually give one away at the booth and there's usually a giveaway at the Odyssey Award reception. This year, I had trouble choosing five and considered buying ten. I decided to think on that decision and ended up buying six. Add the two freebies and I think I have my summer listening cued up.

BOT Booth Freebie: 

Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko. Unabridged audiobook on 6 compact discs; 7 hours, 3 minutes. Read by Karissa Vacker. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House Audio Group, August, 2015. 9781101916353.

Publisher synopsis: Newbery Honor–winning author Gennifer Choldenko deftly combines humor, tragedy, fascinating historical detail, and a medical mystery in this exuberant new novel.
   San Francisco, 1900. The Gilded Age. A fantastic time to be alive for lots of people . . . but not thirteen-year-old Lizzie Kennedy, stuck at Miss Barstow’s snobby school for girls. Lizzie’s secret passion is science, an unsuitable subject for finishing-school girls. Lizzie lives to go on house calls with her physician father. On those visits to his patients, she discovers a hidden dark side of the city—a side that’s full of secrets, rats, and rumors of the plague.
   The newspapers, her powerful uncle, and her beloved papa all deny that the plague has reached San Francisco. So why is the heart of the city under quarantine? Why are angry mobs trying to burn Chinatown to the ground? Why is Noah, the Chinese cook’s son, suddenly making Lizzie question everything she has known to be true? Ignoring the rules of race and class, Lizzie and Noah must put the pieces together in a heart-stopping race to save the people they love. 

I read this one as an arc and loved it. I cannot wait to reread it with my ears. 

Odyssey Award Freebie: I had already read  and own Anna and the Swallow Man (excellent, btw) and Ghost. I own Nimona but haven't yet read it; so that left Dream On Amber. I have the print book in my library. 

Dream on Amber by Emma Shevah. Unabridged audiobook on 4 compact discs; 4.25 hours. Recorded Books, October, 2015. 

Publisher synospsis: My name is Amber Alessandra Leola Kimiko Miyamoto. I have no idea why my parents gave me all those hideous names, but they must have wanted to ruin my life, and you know what? They did an amazing job. As a half-Japanese, half-Italian girl with a ridiculous name, Amber's not feeling molto bene (very good) about making friends at her new school. But the hardest thing about being Amber is that a part of her is missing. Her dad. He left when she was little, and he isn't coming back. Not for her first day of middle school and not for her little sister's birthday. So Amber will have to dream up a way for the Miyamoto sisters to make it on their own....

Purchased:

Matylda, Bright & Tender by Holly McGhee. Unabridged audiobook on 4 compact discs; 4 hours, 37 minutes. Read by Jenna Lamia. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, May, 2017. 9781524781866.

Publisher synopsis: In a courageous debut novel, Holly M. McGhee explores the loss that shakes one girl’s world — and the unexpected consequences of the things we do for love.

Sussy and Guy are best friends, fourth-graders who share their silliest thoughts and deepest hopes. One afternoon, the two of them decide they must have something of their very own to love. After a trip to the pet store, they bring home a spotted lizard, the one with the ancient face and starfish toes, and they name her Matylda (with a y so it’s all her own). With Guy leading the way, they feed her and give her an origin story fit for a warrior lizard. A few weeks later, on a simple bike ride, there is a terrible accident. As hard as it is, Sussy is sure she can hold on to Guy if she can find a way to love Matylda enough. But in a startling turn of events, Sussy reconsiders what it means to grieve and heal and hope and go on, for her own sake and Matylda’s. By turns both devastating and buoyant, this story is a brave one, showing how far we can justify going for a real and true friend.

I had the privilege of hearing Holly speak about this book earlier this year at Words.

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng. Unabridged audiobook performed by Kivlighan de Montebello and a full cast. Listening Library/ Penguin/Random House Audio Publishing Group, February, 2017. 978152475008.

Publisher synopsis: A space-obsessed boy and his dog, Carl Sagan, take a journey toward family, love, hope, and awe in this funny and moving novel for fans of Counting by 7s and Walk Two Moons.

11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan—named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he’ll uncover—from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.

Lemons by Melissa Savage. Unabridged audiobook read by Tara Sands. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, May, 2017. 9781524776459.

Publisher synopsis: Lemonade Liberty Witt’s mama always told her: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But Lem can’t possibly make lemonade out of her new life in Willow Creek, California—the Bigfoot Capital of the World—where she’s forced to live with a grandfather she’s never met after her mother passes away.

Then she meets eleven-year-old Tobin Sky, the CEO of Bigfoot Detectives Inc., who is the sole Bigfoot investigator for their small town. After he invites Lem to be his assistant for the summer, they set out on an epic adventure to capture a shot of the elusive beast on film. But along the way, Lem and Tobin end up discovering more than they ever could have imagined. And Lem realizes that maybe she can make lemonade out of her new life after all.

Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk. Unabridged audiobook read by Jorjean Marie. Listening Library/ Penguin/ Random House Audio Publishing Group, May, 2017. 9781524775025.

Publisher synopsis: Set adrift on the ocean in a small skiff as a newborn, twelve-year-old Crow embarks on a quest to find the missing pieces of her history.

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya. Unabridged audiobook read by the author. Listening Library/ Penguin/ Random House Audio Publishing Group, May, 2017. 9781524775179.

Publisher synopsis: Save the restaurant. Save the town. Get the girl. Make Abuela proud. Can thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora do it all or is he in for a BIG, EPIC FAIL? 

For Arturo, summertime in Miami means playing basketball until dark, sipping mango smoothies, and keeping cool under banyan trees. And maybe a few shifts as junior lunchtime dishwasher at Abuela’s restaurant. Maybe. But this summer also includes Carmen, a cute poetry enthusiast who moves into Arturo’s apartment complex and turns his stomach into a deep fryer. He almost doesn’t notice the smarmy land developer who rolls into town and threatens to change it. Arturo refuses to let his family and community go down without a fight, and as he schemes with Carmen, Arturo discovers the power of poetry and protest through untold family stories and the work of José Martí.

Funny and poignant, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora is the vibrant story of a family, a striking portrait of a town, and one boy's quest to save both, perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia.

I've already read this debut with my eyes and am looking forward to rereading it with my ears.

Ball Don't Lie by Matt de la Péna. Unabridged audiobook read by Dion Graham. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, April, 2017. 9781524778651.

Publisher synopsis:  Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street, and an outer shell so tough that no one will take him in. He started out life so far behind the pack that the finish line seems nearly unreachable. He’s a white boy living and playing in a world where he doesn’t seem to belong.
   
But Sticky can ball. And basketball might just be his ticket out . . . if he can only realize that he doesn’t have to be the person everyone else expects him to be.
    
Matt de la Peña's breakout urban masterpiece, Ball Don’t Lie takes place where the street and the court meet and where a boy can be anything if he puts his mind to it.

I adore Matt's books and somehow have never gotten to read this, his first. I also have a voice crush on Dion Graham so I can't wait to read this!

That's part of what's new with me. What's new with you?