Portland, Maine, March 5, 2020– With audiobook listening on the rise, the SYNC Audiobooks for Teens program, sponsored by AudioFile Magazine and powered by OverDrive, kicks off its eleventh year on April 30th. This year, audiobooks will be accessible through OverDrive’s Sora reading app, which was developed for K-12 students to access their school library’s digital collection. The app can be used by any SYNC participant to access the 2020 SYNC collection and check out each weekly audiobook pair they choose to keep on their personal Sora shelf.

“Building on our past success, we’ve curated a star-studded, inclusive list with something for teens of many different tastes. Librarians across the country continue to rave about SYNC as a tool for youth engagement!” says AudioFile Magazine founder Robin Whitten.

Teens, librarians, club leaders, and educators may sign up for email or text alerts about these FREE offerings and can learn more at www.audiobooksync.com. Any registered individual may participate by downloading OverDrive’s Sora app to their device of choice and using the app to borrow titles each week (titles roll over at midnight Eastern Time each Thursday morning). Each title will be available to checkout for one week only, but once borrowed, it will be available to the user indefinitely within Sora. Teens can develop the pleasure of listening, build their own audiobook collections, and experience literature in a new way. Authors presented in this year’s collection include Tiffany D. Jackson, Bill Konigsberg, Shelby Mahurin, and Octavia E. Butler. Narrators who provide their skills for teen listeners this season include Robin Miles, Christian Barillas, Kim Mai Guest, and Holter Graham, with solo performances, narrations by two actors, and full cast selections among the 26 FREE audiobooks that will be available.

SYNC makes two thematically paired audiobooks available for checkout every week, at no cost, to every registered listener, all summer. In 2020, 26 titles will be accessible through the 13-week-long season. During the summer of 2019, the SYNC program gave away 192,000 downloads to almost 30,000 participants.

SUMMER 2020 SYNC TITLE LINEUP

April 30 – May 6
THE 57 BUS by Dashka Slater, narrated by Robin Miles (Recorded Books)
MONDAY'S NOT COMING by Tiffany D. Jackson, narrated by Imani Parks (HarperAudio)

May 7 – May 13
PICTURE US IN THE LIGHT by Kelly Loy Gilbert, narrated by James Chen (Dreamscape Media)
SECRET SOLDIERS by Paul B. Janeczko, narrated by Ron Butler (Brilliance Audio)

May 14 – May 20
FAUST by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, narrated by Samuel West, Toby Jones, Anna Maxwell Martin, Stephen Critchlow, Derek Jacobi & Daniel Mair (Naxos AudioBooks)
STALKING JACK THE RIPPER by Kerri Maniscalco, narrated by Nicola Barber (Hachette Audio)

May 21 – May 27
SISTERS MATSUMOTO by Philip Kan Gotanda, narrated by Keiko Agena, June Angela, Ron Bottitta, Kurt Kanazawa, Suzy Nakamura, Greg Watanabe, Ryun Yu (L.A. Theatre Works)
DISAPPEARED by Francisco X. Stork, narrated by Roxana Ortega and Christian Barillas (Scholastic Audio)

May 28 – June 3
IN SEARCH OF US by Ava Dellaira, narrated by Adenrele Ojo (Brilliance Audio)
SERPENT & DOVE by Shelby Mahurin, narrated by Holter Graham, Saskia Maarleveld (HarperAudio)

June 4 – June 10
LIKE NO OTHER by Una LaMarche, narrated by Phoebe Strole and Leslie Odom, Jr. (Listening Library)
INTO WHITE by Randi Pink, narrated by Adenrele Ojo (Listening Library)

June 11 – June 17
EASY PREY by Catherine Lo, narrated by Nick Mondelli, Elizabeth Cottle, Jack Meloche (Dreamscape Media)
MARK OF THE RAVEN (THE RAVENWOOD SAGA) by Morgan L. Busse, narrated by Jaimee Draper (Oasis Audio)

June 18 – June 24
THE MUSIC OF WHAT HAPPENS by Bill Konigsberg, narrated by Joel Froomkin, Anthony Rey Perez (Scholastic Audio)
THE BRONTË PLOT by Katherine Reay, narrated by Laura Kirman (Thomas Nelson)

June 25 – July 1
THE SILENCE BETWEEN US by Alison Gervais, narrated by Chloe Dolandis (Blink)
MEXICAN WHITEBOY by Matt de la Peña, narrated by Henry Leyva (Brilliance Audio)

July 2 – July 8
FRESH INK edited by Lamar Giles, narrated by a Full Cast featuring Guy Lockard, Kim Mai Guest, and Bahni Turpin (Listening Library)
HOPE NATION edited by Rose Brock, narrated by a Full Cast (Listening Library)

July 9 – July 15
ALISON LARKIN PRESENTS: A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens freely adapted by Alison Larkin, narrated by Alison Larkin (Alison Larkin Presents)
TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare, narrated by Stella Gonet, Gerard Murphy, Jonathan Keeble, Daniel Philpott, Nick Fletcher, Peter Yapp, Jane Whittenshaw, Malcolm Sinclair, David Timson, Lucy Whybrow, Christopher Godwin, Brian Parr, Adam Kotz & Benjamin Soames (Naxos AudioBooks)

July 16 – July 22
FAKE by Eric Simonson, narrated by Kate Arrington, Coburn Goss, Francis Guinan, Alan Wilder, Larry Yando (L.A. Theatre Works)
NEW YORK 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson, narrated by Suzanne Toren, Robin Miles, Peter Ganim, Jay Snyder, Caitlin Kelly, Michael Crouch, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Christopher Ryan Grant, and Robert Blumenfeld (Hachette Audio)

July 23 – July 29
KINDRED by Octavia E. Butler, narrated by Kim Staunton (Recorded Books)
BURN BABY BURN by Meg Medina, narrated by Marisol Ramirez (Candlewick on Brilliance Audio)