This list is part of our Best of the Year collection, an obsessively curated selection of our editors' and listeners' favorite audio in 2022. Check out The Best of 2022 to see our top picks in every category.
This year marked the most competitive, immersive, and important year of children’s listens that I can remember. There’s a ton of compelling variety on display here, and each entry in this list deserves your listening time, but for me, Attack of the Black Rectangles by Amy Sarig King stands above the rest for its timeliness, whip-smart storytelling, and standout narration.
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Audible's Kids Listen of the Year, 2022
Attack of the Black Rectangles is exceptionally relevant given the current landscape of never-ending bans and court challenges to books in schools. Upon discovering censored lines of text in their assigned reading, the plucky and original characters face off with their teacher, their town, and the adults who seek to silence them. Never didactic or oversimplified, always heartfelt and nuanced, this listen will stand the test of time.
Cece Rios is back with even bigger stakes and cooler criaturas (creatures)—and this time, her sister Juana is also a point-of-view character, adding nuance and depth to their respective journeys as well as their relationship. The adventure features brujas (witches), curanderas (healers), and plenty of complicated and compelling criaturas to keep any listener engaged—and eager for Book 3’s arrival next year.
Mutually Assured Detention hooks you right off the bat with a school prank gone wrong: a glitter-bombing of the vice principal. It sets off a prank war that consumes the entire school, resulting in punishments that leave the students in shock and awe, forcing them to stand up to the draconian administration. Best of all, the full cast and incredible sound design puts you smack dab in the center of the battle.
A companion listen to the also fantastic Amal Unbound, Omar Rising tells the tale of pre-teen Omar as he learns to speak up and fight for himself—and others—in Pakistan amidst inequality, extraordinary wealth disparity, and unfair academic standards. This is the best kind of underdog story, and feels timely as the core problems feel deeply relevant to challenges so many American students are currently facing.
Survival tales have long been strong sellers in the children’s literature market, probably in no small part thanks to the timeless appeal of Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, first published in 1986. Paulsen’s new (and final) novel, Northwind, is also a story about survival—but unlike other listens in the genre, it doesn’t center on an adversarial relationship between man and nature; rather, Leif’s journey is far more about learning how to flow along, recognizing that every living thing’s impulse to survive is valid and worth our respect.
I doubt there’s a middle-grade book or listen that tackles colonialism and slavery better than Kwame Alexander does in The Door of No Return. Accessible yet nuanced, the subject matter is approached by Alexander with incredible care and is (clearly) well-researched, with fictionalized details that evoke introspection and emotion in equal measure. This novel-in-verse feels ideally suited for audio with Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s performance waxing grandiose, intimate, or poetic as each scene demands.
Join Trudy the Turtle and Emily Arrow as they hop on their Story Bike for a ride- and sing-along for the ages. Each episode in this podcast features fun songs and great stories seamlessly woven together. I’m personally enamored with the Watercolor Woods and the fun and tuneful animals that populate it, but there’s so much to love here that practically anyone will find themselves singing along.
This listen tells a tale of beavers abandoning their home in England to avoid being hunted to extinction thanks to a decree by Henry VIII. Along the way, one plucky young beaver finds a human skeleton, resulting in a one-of-a-kind tale where he helps the ghosts of the two-legs (humans) try to find eternal peace. This is a truly unique fantasy world featuring comforting, confident narration by James Fouhey.
The final season of Letters from Camp is also its best. Jamie Lee Curtis and Sunny Sandler shine as their respective characters, and the immersive sound design makes for the perfect family listen for long car rides or as an after-dinner activity. Parents will enjoy the nostalgia from their own camp experiences, and kids will be fully invested in Mookie’s hijinks and clever detective work. And like all great series, it ends on an unforgettable high note.
Told from the alternating points of view of a young girl and a snow leopard cub, Wildoak is one of the most heartfelt and enchanting listens of the year. From the tactful depiction and voicing of the main character’s stutter to the incredibly immersive chapters told from the cub’s perspective, this listen feels like a warm blanket on a winter’s eve—and even when peril surfaces, I felt held tight by the prose and narration.
Imagine if Roald Dahl slapped Lemony Snicket with Neil Gaiman’s skeletal forearm, and you’ve got an idea of what the second listen in The Weirdies series brings to the table. Hearing Kate Winslet slip in and out of the characters’ voices once again is a joy—she’s clearly having a lot of fun, and the conviviality of her performance contrasts deliciously with the dark and humorous plot and characters. This is one of those rare listens where adults with no particular interest in children’s literature will remain enraptured by the weird, slightly goth, completely unique world Michael Buckley has conjured.
