Audiobooks Narrated by Taylor Meskimen

The Christmas Wish

Celebrate the season with this New York Times bestselling wintry tale that will have listeners of all ages believing in the magic of Christmas. This is one to pull out every year and savor all winter long! In the merry tradition of classics like The Polar Express, this special audiobook captures the holiday spirit. This is a timeless classic one to listen to every year and savor all winter long! Long ago, a brave little girl named Anja wanted to be one of Santa's elves. So she leaves a note for her family and helps her elderly neighbor prepare for the holiday, then she straps on her skis, and heads out into the snowy landscape. From a red bird to a polar bear to a reindeer, a menagerie of winter animals help Anja make her way to Santa.  And don't miss the other 'Wish' books: The Reindeer Wish The Tiny Wish The Brave Little Puppy The Puppy's Wish The Polar Bear Wish

Lori Evert (Author), Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Daredevils

Readers on the cusp of adolescence will find much to love in this middle grade novel from the author of the beloved MR. TERUPT series that follows three kids who come to realize that letting go of childhood means boldly taking risks to face the future while learning from the past. Loretta and her twin brother, Waylon, are headed to middle school. Loretta has always been quick with her fists and her wits. Since Waylon is on the small side, Loretta doesn't let anyone mess with him. But now she worries he won't survive without her by his side. Her secret plan: bulk him up with muscle over the summer. Little does she know that Waylon has a plan of his own. He'll show his sister he can take care of himself. As each puts their strategy in motion, Loretta and Waylon spend the summer going into the woods behind their house, even sneaking there in the dead of night. That's where they first encounter Louie, who is about their age but noticeably bigger. Louie is homeschooled, he explains when Loretta gives him the third degree. Loretta, Waylon, and Louie soon fall into a comfortable friendship and continue their nightly forest adventures. When they unearth a mysterious box, the past collides with the present, propelling the trio on a quest that will forever change their lives. Rob Buyea's spirited dual narrative drives this funny, touching brother-sister story, where even the best-laid plans sometimes backfire and feelings may get bruised, but family and friends always count. Letting go of childhood means boldly taking risks to face the future while learning from the past.

Rob Buyea (Author), Mark Sanderlin, Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Now You Say Yes

When her mother dies, fifteen-year-old Mari is desperate to avoid being caught up in the foster system. Again. And to complicate matters, she is now the only one who can take care of her super-smart and on-the-spectrum nine-year-old stepbrother, Conor. Is there anyone Mari can trust to help them? Certainly not her mother’s current boyfriend, Dennis. Not the doctors or her teachers, who would be obliged to call in social services. So in a desperate move, Mari takes Conor and sets out to find their estranged grandmother, hoping to throw themselves at the mercy of the only person who might take them in. On their way to New England, the duo experience the snarls of LA traffic, the backroads of the Midwest, and a monumental stop in Missouri where they witness the solar eclipse, an event with which Conor is obsessed. Mari also learns about the inner workings of her stepbrother’s mind and about her connections to him and to the world … and maybe even a little about her own place in it. A beautiful exploration of identity and family, this heartwarming and engaging middle grade novel comes from renowned storyteller and two-time Grammy Award winner Bill Harley.

Bill Harley (Author), Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Super Secret Super Spies: Guardians of the Future

James Ponti's City Spies meets Stuart Gibbs's Spy School in this fun, action-packed sequel that follows young inventor and secret Illuminati spy Maddie on a thrilling new adventure. Super spies reporting for duty! When Maddie Robinson and her team are assigned a new super secret mission to protect the world’s most famous pop star from a mysterious foe, she knows she’ll need every tool available. That’s when she discovers a secret buried deep within the Illuminati’s archives: a device that can predict the future, invented by renowned Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci himself! The only problem? This future predictor has been lost for centuries. With a villain at large, finding the device becomes more important—and personal—than ever, and the super spies’ search takes them all over Europe. Will Maddie and her friends be able to save the day once again? Filled with gadgets, secret codes, and clandestine adventures, this story is perfect for fans of Dan Gutman’s Genius Files and Michael Buckley’s NERDS.

Max Mason (Author), Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Trusting True North

True North Vincent feels lost and uneasy after the fear of a virus closes the border, meaning her mom can’t return home from Canada. With her father working long hours as a nurse helping people who are sick with the virus, she’s left at home with her grandma, who doesn’t have the energy to keep up with True’s adventures, or her older sister, always focused on her phone, or Georgie, her younger brother, whose severe asthma makes him more vulnerable to the virus. True is lonely and sometimes gets angry because she feels forgotten and unheard. True’s mom tries to talk to her by phone, but True refuses; she just wants her mom home in-person, not just her voice. True finds escape and comfort in working on her maps, a skill she learned from her mother who is a cartographer. Not only does it fulfill her remote learning class assignment, but it helps to pass the time in isolation. She also creates an elaborate treasure map for Georgie that spans the entire thick forest beyond her backyard. While exploring, True finds the new kid, Kyler, playing tenderly with a litter of newborn kittens in an old barn. Kyler knocked out Dakota Sullivan’s tooth during a fight and has a reputation of being a bully, so True waits until he’s gone before approaching the kittens. The smallest kitten, the runt of the litter, looks sickly and has been abandoned by the mama cat. True names her Teacup; she knows exactly how it feels to not have a mom around when you need her most. As Teacup’s health worsens, True attempts to nurse the cat back to health by herself. Just when True thinks she and Kyler could be friends over their concern for Teacup, he starts acting strange and doesn’t return her calls. To make matters worse, True’s dad gets sick and must stay at the hospital, and then Georgie gets lost in the forest, and then their elderly neighbor gets the virus. True feels even more scared and alone. Running out of her own fixes and remedies, True reaches out and realizes that her family does care about her and wants to offer support and guidance to help her find her way through the unexpected challenges the virus and life bring.

Gina Linko (Author), Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Wreck at Ada’s Reef

Punctuated with transcripts, letters, and more, The Swallowtail Legacy: Wreck at Ada’s Reef is a vibrant contemporary mystery with a classic feel exploring righting past wrongs, redefining family, and finding yourself. Twelve-year-old Lark Heron-Finch is steeling herself to spend the summer on Swallowtail Island off the shores of Lake Erie. It’s the first time that she and her sister will have seen the old house since their mom passed away. And while her stepfather and his boys are okay, the island’s always been full of happy memories—and now everything is different. When Nadine, a close family friend, tells Lark about a tragic boat accident that happened off the coast many years before, Lark's enthralled with the story. Nadine’s working on a book about Dinah Purdy, Swallowtails’s oldest resident who had a connection to the crash, and she’s sure that the accident was not as it appeared. Impressed by Lark's keen eye, she hires her as her research assistant for the summer. And then Lark discovers something amazing. Something that could change Dinah’s life. Something linked to the crash and even to her own family’s history with Swallowtail. But there are others on the island who would do anything to keep the truth buried in the watery depths of the past. A compelling and complex mystery with a classic feel, Wreck at Ada’s Reef is perfect for fans of The Parker Inheritance, Holes, The Westing Game, and anyone looking for a satisfying puzzle that stretches across decades.

Michael D. Beil (Author), Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Turn The Tide

Twelve-year-old Mimi Laskaris is inspired by the Wijsen sisters of Bali to turn her focus from classical piano to a new obsession: forming a grassroots, kid-led movement to ban plastic bags in her new island home in Florida. Written in accessible verse, this timely story of environmental activism has extensive back matter for aspiring activists. With a foreword by Melati Wijsen, cofounder of Bye, Bye Plastic Bags. Mimi has a plan for her seventh grade year: play piano in the Young Artists competition at Carnegie Hall with her best friend, Lee; enjoy a good old Massachusetts snow day or two; and work in her community garden plot with her dad. But all that changes when her family’s Greek restaurant falls on hard times. The Laskarises’ relocation to Wilford Island, Florida, is a big key change for Mimi. Where does she fit in in this shell-covered paradise without Lee? Mimi is taken by the beauty of the island and alarmed by the plastic pollution she sees on the beaches. Then her science teacher, Ms. Miller, shows her class a TED Talk by Melati and Isabel Wijsen. At ages twelve and ten, they lobbied to ban single-use plastic bags on their home island of Bali—and won. Their story strikes a chord for Mimi. She’s twelve. Could a kid like her make such a big change in a place that she’s not yet sure feels like home? Can she manage to keep up with piano, her schoolwork, and activism? And does confident and flawless Carmen Alvarez-Hill really want to help her with the movement? In this story of environmental activism, friendship, and self-discovery, Mimi figures out what’s truly important to her, and takes her place in the ranks of real-life youth activists like the Wijsen sisters, Greta Thunberg, and Isra Hirsi.

Elaine Dimopoulos (Author), Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Just Harriet

From the award-winning author of A Boy Called Bat comes a new young middle grade series in the tradition of Ramona and Clementine, starring an unforgettable girl named Harriet. There are a few things you should know about Harriet Wermer: She just finished third grade.  She has a perfect cat named Matzo Ball.  She doesn’t always tell the truth.  She is very happy to be spending summer vacation away from home and her mom and dad and all the wonderful things she had been planning all year. Okay, maybe that last one isn’t entirely the truth. Of course, there’s nothing Harriet doesn't like about Marble Island, the small island off the coast of California where her nanu runs a cozy little bed and breakfast. And nobody doesn’t love Moneypenny, Nanu’s old basset hound. But Harriet doesn’t like the fact that Dad made this decision without even asking her. When Harriet arrives on Marble Island, however, she discovers that it's full of surprises, and even a mystery. One that seems to involve her Dad, back when he was a young boy living on Marble Island. One that Harriet is absolutely going to solve. And that's the truth.

Elana K. Arnold (Author), Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Super Secret Super Spies: Mystery of the All-Seeing Eye

Perfect for readers of Stuart Gibbs’s Spy School series, this is the first book in an epic series filled with gadgets, secret codes, and clandestine adventures from debut author Max Mason! Are you ready to enter the world of a super secret super spy? Maddie Robinson has always been overlooked: by her parents (who disappeared), by her friends (who are nonexistent), and even science fair judges (who think she has “so much . . . potential”). So when a mysterious man called The Recruiter invites her to join a secret society of spies, Maddie is floored. Then she discovers that these super secret super spies are the Illuminati—the world’s most covert organization rumored to control, well, everything. And one more thing: The Illuminati are kids, like Maddie! Together, they must protect humanity from anyone who threatens its peace, and basically keeping the planet spinning on its axis. No biggie, right?

Max Mason (Author), Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Pity Party

Discover an 'absurd, funny, and thought-provoking' book perfect for 'anyone who has ever felt socially awkward or inadequate' (Louis Sachar, author of Holes and the Wayside School series). Dear weird toes, crooked nose, stressed out, left out, freaked out Dear missing parts, broken hearts, picked-on, passed up, misunderstood, Dear everyone, you are cordially invited, come as you are, this party's for you Welcome to Pity Party, where the social anxieties that plague us all are twisted into funny, deeply resonant, and ultimately reassuring psychological thrills. There's a story about a mood ring that tells the absolute truth. One about social media followers who literally follow you around. And one about a kid whose wish for a new, improved self is answered when a mysterious box arrives in the mail. There's also a personality test, a fortune teller, a letter from the Department of Insecurity, and an interactive Choose Your Own Catastrophe. Come to the party for a grab bag of delightfully dark stories that ultimately offers a life-affirming reminder that there is hope and humor to be found amid our misery.

Kathleen Lane (Author), Kamali Minter, Scott Takeda, Taylor Meskimen, Tessa Netting (Narrator)

Audiobook

Flooded: Requiem for Johnstown

The dark truth behind the Johnstown Flood of 1889 -- one of the greatest calamities our country has ever experienced--is revealed in a beautiful, harrowing story, told in luminous verse. Before the flood, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a working class industry town filled with immigrants, factory workers, shop owners, housewives, and schoolchildren, all with hopes and dreams for the future. Sixteen-year-old Joe Dixon opens a newsstand and aspires to make a name for himself like Andrew Carnegie; Monica Fagan longs to travel to her mother's native Ireland, while her younger brother Daniel just wants to hike the mountain and enjoy clean air; George Hoffman yearns for a job so he can relieve his family's burdens; William James works hard to be a poet; and little Gertrude Quinn is happy to collect treasures from her father's store. Above the soot-filled town, an elite hunting and fishing club built on a manmade lake draws America's wealthiest business barons -- Carnegie, Mellon, and Frick. Though repeatedly warned, they ignore the pleas to fix the deteriorating dam that holds the lake. And when heavy rains come, the dam bursts, and Johnstown is decimated. As great as the tragedy was the injustice: The club members eschewed any blame and claimed the flood was a natural disaster. Told in alternating voices -- some inspired by first-person accounts -- the chorus of these six children turns an unspeakable catastrophe into a transcendent and hopeful work of art in the tradition of such classics as Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology and Thornton Wilder's Our Town.

Ann E. Burg (Author), Bailey Carr, Christopher Gebauer, Dan Bittner, Josh Hurley, Robin Miles, Sean Welsh Brown, Taylor Meskimen, Taylor Meskimen (additional Tbd) (Narrator)

Audiobook

Dress Coded

In this debut middle-grade girl-power friendship story, an eighth grader starts a podcast to protest the unfair dress code enforcement at her middle school and sparks a rebellion. Molly Frost is FED UP... Because Olivia was yelled at for wearing a tank top. Because Liza got dress coded and Molly didn't, even though they were wearing the exact same outfit. Because when Jessica was pulled over by the principal and missed a math quiz, her teacher gave her an F. Because it's impossible to find shorts that are longer than her fingertips. Because girls' bodies are not a distraction. Because middle school is hard enough. And so Molly starts a podcast where girls can tell their stories, and before long, her small rebellion swells into a revolution. Because now the girls are standing up for what's right, and they're not backing down. • Four Starred Reviews • A Kids' Indie Next List Title

Carrie Firestone (Author), Andrea Emmes, Asia Mattu, Caitlin Kelly, Cassandra Morris, Courtney Lin, Kim Mai Guest, Krystel Roche, Sharinna Allan, Sophie Amoss, Tara Sands, Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook