Anthony Rey Perez has narrated 14 audiobooks on Listento.it by 14 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.3★ across 17 ratings. The most-rated is Sal and Gabi Break the Universe.
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe
Summary
Rick Riordan presents a brilliant sci-fi romp with Cuban influence that poses this question: What would you do if you had the power to reach through time and space and retrieve anything you want, including your mother, who is no longer living (in this universe, anyway)?
In order to heal after his mother's death, Sal learned how to meditate. But no one expected him to be able to take it further and "relax" things into existence. Turns out he can reach into time and space to retrieve things from other universes - even his mom! He has promised his dad and stepmom that he won't bring back his mother anymore (it causes a lot of marital tension), but sometimes, he can't help himself. Why can't they all just get along?
Sal doesn't talk about his ability with anyone. At Culeco, his performing arts middle school, he just chalks it up to being a magician. But when he meets Gabi, the student council president and editor of the school paper, he realizes she is someone with whom he can work. She could use his help, too, because she has a newborn brother on life support.
But just because Sal and Gabi can do some interesting things to improve lives, does that mean they should? When things get out of hand, it's going to require some truly out-of-the-box thinking to set things right.
©2019 Carlos Hernandez (P)2019 Listening Library
Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe
Summary
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the sequel to the critically acclaimed Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, a brilliant sci-fi romp with Cuban influence. Among many other challenges, Sal and Gabi have to try to make everything right with our world when there is a rogue Gabi from another universe running loose.
Sal Vidon doesn't want to live a Mami-free life. Pulling different versions of his mother from other universes is how he copes with missing his own, who died years ago. But Sal's father, a calamity physicist, is trying to shut down all the wormholes Sal creates, because Papi thinks they are eroding the very fabric of our world. All of Papi's efforts are in vain, however, because a Gabi from another universe has gone rogue and is popping up all over the place, seeking revenge for the fact that her world has been destroyed. While Sal and Gabi work together to keep both Papi and Rogue Gabi under control, they also have to solve the mystery of Yasmany, who has gone missing from school. Could it have something to do with the wormhole in the back of his locker?
Listeners who enjoyed Sal and Gabi Break the Universe will relish being back in the world of Culeco Academy and the Coral Castle along with such unforgettable characters as American Stepmom, the Gabi-Dads, Principal Torres, and the sassy entropy sweeper. With multiple Sals and Gabis in charge, it's no wonder this sequel offers even more hilarious weirdness and love than the first book.
©2020 Carlos Hernandez (P)2020 Listening Library
Missionaries
Summary
One of President Obama's Favorite Books of the Year A New York Times Notable Book One of the Wall Street Journal 10 Best Books of the Year “Mr. Klay’s bravura novel homes in on the ground-level consequences of American interference in Colombia’s ongoing civil war and tumultuous peace process. But the engrossing local conflict is only part of the book’s revelatory, panoramic portrayal of the remote yet interconnected ways that American-sponsored wars are waged across the globe.” (Wall Street Journal) The debut novel from the National Book Award-winning author of Redeployment. A group of Colombian soldiers prepares to raid a drug lord's safe house on the Venezuelan border. They're watching him with an American-made drone, about to strike using military tactics taught to them by US soldiers who honed their skills to lethal perfection in Iraq. In Missionaries, Phil Klay examines the globalization of violence through the interlocking stories of four characters and the conflicts that define their lives. For Mason, a US Army Special Forces medic, and Lisette, a foreign correspondent, America's long post-9/11 wars in the Middle East exerted a terrible draw that neither is able to shake. Where can such a person go next? All roads lead to Colombia, where the US has partnered with local government to keep predatory narco gangs at bay. Mason, now a liaison to the Colombian military, is ready for the good war, and Lisette is more than ready to cover it. Juan Pablo, a Colombian officer, must juggle managing the Americans' presence and navigating a viper's nest of factions bidding for power. Meanwhile, Abel, a lieutenant in a local militia, has lost almost everything in the seemingly endless carnage of his home province, where the lines between drug cartels, militias, and the state are semi-permeable. Drawing on six years of research in America and Colombia into the effects of the modern way of war on regular people, Klay has written a novel of extraordinary suspense infused with geopolitical sophistication and storytelling instincts that are second to none. Missionaries is a window not only into modern war, but into the individual lives that go on long after the drones have left the skies.
©2020 Phil Klay (P)2020 Penguin Audio
The Never Tilting World
Summary
A world split between day and night. Two sisters who must unite it. The author of The Bone Witch kicks off an epic YA fantasy duology perfect for fans of Furyborn. Generations of twin goddesses have long ruled Aeon - until one sister’s betrayal split their world in two. A Great Abyss now divides two realms: one cloaked in eternal night, the other scorched beneath an ever-burning sun. While one sister rules the frozen fortress of Aranth, her twin rules the sand-locked Golden City - each with a daughter by their side. Now those young goddesses must set out on separate, equally dangerous journeys in hopes of healing their broken world. No matter the sacrifice it demands. Told from four interweaving perspectives, this sweeping epic fantasy packs elemental magic, star-crossed romance, and incredible landscapes into a spectacular adventure with the fierce sisterhood of Frozen and the breakneck action of Mad Max: Fury Road.
©2019 Rin Chupeco (P)2019 HarperAudio
Strike Zone
Summary
A timely and heartfelt follow-up to number one New York Times best seller Heat, about a young baseball prodigy and his immigrant family living in today's America. Twelve-year-old star Little League pitcher Nick Garcia has a dream. Several in fact. He dreams he'll win this season's MVP and the chance to throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. He dreams he'll meet his hero, Yankees' pitcher Michael Arroyo. He dreams they'll find a cure for Lupus so he sister won't have to suffer. But mostly, he dreams one day his family can stop living in fear of the government. For one kid, it's almost too much to bear. Luckily, Nick has his two best friends, Ben and Diego, to keep him balanced. But when Nick notices a mysterious man lurking on his street corner, he senses a threat. Suddenly, his worst fears are realized, and just when it seems there's no one they can trust, an unexpected hero emerges and changes everything. Praise for Strike Zone: "Lupica skillfully addresses the timely and complicated topic of living as the child of undocumented immigrants and the uncertainty facing many American families.... This exceptional baseball novel delivers both lively sports action and critical subject matter." (Kirkus Reviews starred review) "Lupica's action sequences are thrilling and fast-paced...[a] solid purchase where Mike Lupica and the Yankees are popular." (School Library Journal) "As he did in Heat, Lupica skillfully juggles the baseball drama with the larger social issues that swirl around it, vividly putting a human face on the immigration crisis." (Booklist) "Strike Zone brings the game of baseball to life, but moreover, it addresses immigration, a current issue in US culture and politics. Teens will choose to read Strike Zone as a "sports book" but will root for Nick both on and off the field. The Garcia family's desire to become legal US citizens is well woven into this fast-paced story." (VOYA)
©2019 Mike Lupica (P)2019 Listening Library
A Universe of Wishes
Summary
From We Need Diverse Books, the organization behind Flying Lessons & Other Stories, comes a young adult fantasy short story collection featuring some of the best own-voices children's authors, including New York Times best-selling authors Libba Bray (The Diviners), V. E. Schwab (A Darker Shade of Magic), Natalie C. Parker (Seafire), and many more. Edited by Dhonielle Clayton (The Belles). In the fourth collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, 15 award-winning and celebrated diverse authors deliver stories about a princess without need of a prince, a monster long misunderstood, memories that vanish with a spell, and voices that refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. This powerful and inclusive collection contains a universe of wishes for a braver and more beautiful world. Authors include: Samira Ahmed, Jenni Balch, Libba Bray, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, Tessa Gratton, Kwame Mbalia, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro, Natalie C. Parker, Rebecca Roanhorse, V. E. Schwab, Tara Sim, Nic Stone
©2021 Dhonielle Clayton (P)2021 Listening Library
The Ever Cruel Kingdom
Summary
From the author of The Bone Witch, the thrilling sequel to The Never Tilting World spins elemental magic, fierce sisterhood, and vast, incredible landscapes into a YA fantasy epic perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Sabaa Tahir. After a treacherous journey and a life-shattering introduction to a twin neither knew she had, sisters Haidee and Odessa expected to emerge from the Great Abyss to a world set right. But though the planet is turning once again, the creatures of the abyss refuse to rest without another goddess’s sacrifice. To break the cycle, Haidee and Odessa need answers that lie beyond the seven gates of the underworld, within the Cruel Kingdom itself. The shadows of the underworld may hunger to tear them apart, but these two sisters are determined to heal their world - together.
©2020 Rin Chupeco (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
American Poison
Summary
A sweeping examination of how American racism has broken the country's social compact, eroded America's common goods, and damaged the lives of every American - and a heartfelt look at how these deep wounds might begin to heal. Compared to other industrialized nations, the United States is losing ground across nearly every indicator of social health. Its race problem, argues Eduardo Porter, is largely to blame. In American Poison, the New York Times veteran shows how racial animus has stunted the development of nearly every institution crucial for a healthy society, including organized labor, public education, and the social safety net. The consequences are profound and are only growing graver with time. Leading us through history and across America - from FDR's New Deal through Bill Clinton's welfare reform to Donald Trump's retrograde and divisive policies - Porter pieces together how racial hostility has blocked American social cohesion at every turn, producing a nation that fails not only its Black and brown citizens but White Americans as well. American Poison is at once a broad, rigorous argument, and a profound cri de coeur. Even as it uncovers our most tenacious national pathology, it points the way toward hope, illuminating the ways in which, as the nation becomes increasingly diverse, it may well be possible to construct a new understanding of racial identity - and a more cohesive society on top of it.
©2020 Eduardo Porter (P)2020 Random House Audio
All Involved
Summary
A propulsive and ambitious novel as electrifying as The Wire, from a writer hailed as the West Coast's Richard Price—a mesmerizing epic of crime and opportunity, race, revenge, and loyalty, set in the chaotic streets of South Central LA in the wake of one of the most notorious and incendiary trials of the 1990s. At 3:15 p.m. on April 29, 1992, a jury acquitted three white Los Angeles Police Department officers charged with using excessive force to subdue a black man named Rodney King and failed to reach a verdict on the same charges involving a fourth officer. Less than two hours later, the city exploded in violence that lasted six days. In nearly 121 hours, fifty-three lives were lost. But there were even more deaths unaccounted for: violence that occurred outside of active rioting sites by those who used the chaos to viciously settle old scores. A gritty and cinematic work of fiction, All Involved vividly re-creates this turbulent and terrifying time, set in a sliver of Los Angeles largely ignored by the media during the riots. Ryan Gattis tells seventeen interconnected first-person narratives that paint a portrait of modern America itself—laying bare our history, our prejudices, and our complexities. With characters that capture the voices of gang members, firefighters, graffiti kids, and nurses caught up in these extraordinary circumstances, All Involved is a literary tour de force that catapults this edgy writer into the ranks of such legendary talents as Dennis Lehane and George V. Higgins.
©2015 Ryan Gattis (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers
The Spirit of Science Fiction
Summary
From a master of contemporary fiction, a tale of bohemian youth on the make in Mexico City. Two young poets, Jan and Remo, find themselves adrift in Mexico City. Obsessed with poetry and above all with science fiction, they are eager to forge a life in the literary world - or sacrifice themselves to it. Roberto Bolaño's The Spirit of Science Fiction is a story of youth hungry for revolution, notoriety, and sexual adventure as they work to construct a reality out of the fragments of their dreams. But as close as these friends are, the city tugs them in opposite directions. Jan withdraws from the world, shutting himself in their shared rooftop apartment where he feverishly composes fan letters to the stars of science fiction and dreams of cosmonauts and Nazis. Meanwhile, Remo runs headfirst into the future, spending his days and nights with a circle of wild young writers, seeking pleasure in the city's labyrinthine streets, rundown cafés, and murky bathhouses. This kaleidoscopic work of strange and tender beauty is a fitting introduction for listeners uninitiated into the thrills of Roberto Bolaño's fiction and an indispensable addition to an ecstatic and transgressive body of work.
©2019 Roberto Bolaño (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Ask for Me Tomorrow
Summary
Margaret Millar's husband, Kenneth, who wrote under the name of Ross Macdonald, received more attention for his Lew Archer books, but her equally noteworthy mysteries are among the best of the genre. This story of love and greed among the rich and eccentric citizens of a California city - very much like the Millars' beloved Santa Barbara - is full of the things that make her work memorable - a wickedly twisted plot, sly observations on all social levels, and a writing style that welcomes you to the party like an old friend with a sharp tongue.
©1976 Margaret Millar (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Eat That Frog! for Students
Summary
Adapted from Brian Tracy's international time-management best seller, Eat That Frog!, this book will give today's stressed-out and overwhelmed students the tools for lifelong success. Like adults, students of all ages struggle with how to manage their time. Encountering the necessity of time management for the first time, high schoolers juggle classes, extracurricular activities (all but mandatory for college admissions), jobs, internships, family responsibilities, and more. College brings even more freedom and less structure, making time management even more critical. Brian Tracy's Eat That Frog! has helped millions around the world get more done in less time. Now this life-changing global best seller has been adapted to the specific needs of students. Tracy offers listeners tips, tools, and techniques for structuring time, setting goals, staying on task (even when you're not interested), dealing with stress, and developing the skills to achieve far more than you ever thought possible. This is the book that parents and teachers have long been wishing Tracy would create.
©2021 Brian Tracy and Anna Leinberger (P)2021 Brian Tracy and Anna Leinberger
The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez
Summary
All Nestor Lopez wants is to live in one place for more than a few months and have dinner with his dad. When he and his mother move to a new town to live with his grandmother after his dad’s latest deployment, Nestor plans to lay low. He definitely doesn’t want anyone to find out his deepest secret: that he can talk to animals. But when the animals in his new town start disappearing, Nestor's grandmother becomes the prime suspect after she is spotted in the woods where they were last seen. As Nestor investigates the source of the disappearances, he learns that they are being seized by a tule vieja - a witch who can absorb an animal’s powers by biting it during a solar eclipse. And the next eclipse is just around the corner.... Now it’s up to Nestor’s extraordinary ability and his new friends to catch the tule vieja - and save a place he might just call home.
©2020 Adrianna Cuevas (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Efrén Divided
Summary
Winner of the Pura Belpré Award "We need books to break open our hearts, so that we might feel more deeply, so that we might be more human in these unkind times. This is a book doing work of the spirit in a time of darkness." (Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street) Efrén Nava’s Amá is his Superwoman - or Soperwoman, named after the delicious Mexican sopes his mother often prepares. Both Amá and Apá work hard all day to provide for the family, making sure Efrén and his younger siblings Max and Mía feel safe and loved. But Efrén worries about his parents; although he's American-born, his parents are undocumented. His worst nightmare comes true one day when Amá doesn't return from work and is deported across the border to Tijuana, México. Now more than ever, Efrén must channel his inner Soperboy to help take care of and try to reunite his family. A glossary of Spanish words is included.
©2020 Ernesto Cisneros (P)2020 HarperAudio