Audiobooks by Charles Waters

All the Love Under the Vast Sky

"Twelve short stories in verse by bestselling and award-winning authors that explore the highs and lows of love - romantic, platonic, familial, and self-love. Love can be many things - all-consuming, fleeting, vengeful, selfless, toxic, uplifting, and always, a core part of the teen experience that leaves an indelible mark. This enchanting, genre-crossing anthology delivers something for every reader with unique characters, global settings, and a dazzling mixture of myth, historical, speculative, and contemporary fiction. With the turn of a page, get swept away by unexpected love blooming between two princes from enemy Mesoamerican nations in the 15th century, who'd rather make music rather than war; cheer for a timid bearded lady who was shunned by her family and runs away to find belonging and safety at the circus during the 1800s experience the heartbreak of saying goodbye to a beloved pet; breathlessly watch a myth unfold as a siren bound to the water falls in love with a winged forest spirit, their love seemingly impossible from the start. Root for a girl who emerges from grief and battles with chronic pain to discover how to love herself and life again. Love is complicated, and this anthology embraces the messiness and the joy of all kinds of love. Contributors include: - Alexandra Alessandri - David Bowles - Melanie Crowder - Margarita Engle - Eric Gansworth - Robin Gow - Mariama J. Lockington - Laura Ruby - Padma Venkatraman - Jasmine Warga - Charles Waters - Kip Wilson"

Alexandra Alessandri, Charles Waters, David Bowles, Eric Gansworth, Jasmine Warga, Kip Wilson, Laura Ruby, Margarita Engle, Mariama Lockington, Melanie Crowder, Padma Venkatraman, Robin Gow (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Mascot

"In Rye, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC, people work hard, kids go to school, and football is big on Friday nights. An eighth-grade English teacher creates an assignment for her class to debate whether Rye’s mascot should stay or change. Now six middle schoolers get involved in the issue that already has the suburb turned upside down with everyone choosing sides and arguments getting ugly. At the center of this story about human rights and Native sovereignty, there are six young people. Callie, a Black Cherokee Nation citizen, is new to the town and school; Franklin loves football, wearing fresh kicks, and so far has resisted his parents’ desire for him to learn more about his Black heritage; Priya wants to be a journalist and has four grandparents all born in India; Sean is a sixth-generation Rye student in an Irish family that often needs help from the food pantry; Tessa, who is white, was previously homeschooled and has grandparents who marched with MLK Jr.; Luis immigrated from El Salvador at seven and aspires to be a math teacher and coach. Written from several points of view, this novel in verse asks, “What happens when a mascot is seen as racist, but not by everyone?” This audiobook is narrated by Karen Chilton, Merissa Czyz, Kyla Garcia, Christopher Gebauer, Robb Moreira, Soneela Nankani, and Ruffin Prentiss."

Charles Waters, Traci Sorell (Author), Christopher Gebauer, Karen Chilton, Kyla Garcia, Merissa Czyz, Robb Moreira, Ruffin Prentiss, Soneela Nankani (Narrator)

Audiobook

African Town

"Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse. In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to Mobile, Alabama aboard a ship called Clotilda. Their journey includes the savage Middle Passage and being hidden in the swamplands along the Alabama River before being secretly parceled out to various plantations, where they made desperate attempts to maintain both their culture and also fit into the place of captivity to which they'd been delivered. At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day. Told in 14 distinct voices, including that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Town, this powerfully affecting historical novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history, the impacts of which we still feel today. * This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF with a glossary and additional resources."

Charles Waters, Irene Latham (Author), Andrew Eiden, Cary Hite, Cassandra Campbell, Mark Sanderlin, Michael Obiora, Mirron Willis, Nene Nwoko, Patrick Zeller, Prentice Onayemi, Ronald Peet, Sandra Okuboyejo, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Soneela Nankani (Narrator)

Audiobook