Ozzie Rodriguez has narrated 21 audiobooks on Listento.it by 20 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.1★ across 74 ratings. The most-rated is The Storm Runner.
The Storm Runner
Summary
A contemporary adventure based on Mayan mythology from Rick Riordan Presents!
Zane Obispo spends every day exploring the sleeping volcano in his backyard. "The Beast", as he calls it, is the one place where he can escape other kids, who make fun of him because he has a limp and walks with a cane.
After a twin-engine plane crashes into The Beast, a mysterious girl named Brooks shows up at Zane's doorstep, insisting that they meet at the volcano, where she will reveal a terrible secret. Zane agrees, mostly because beautiful girls like her don't usually talk to him. Brooks tells him that the volcano is actually a centuries-old prison for the Mayan god of death, whose destiny is directly tied to Zane's. No way, Zane thinks. He's just a 13-year-old nobody, and destiny or no destiny, he wants nothing to do with any of it, especially some god of death.
But Brooks opens his eyes to the truth: magic, monsters, and gods are real, and Zane is at the center of an ancient prophecy that could mean the destruction of the world. Suddenly finding himself entangled in a web of dangerous secrets, Zane embarks on a quest that will take him far from home and test him to the very core.
Feisty heroes, tricky gods, murderous demons, and spirited giants are just some of the pleasures that await in this fresh and funny take on Mayan mythology, as rich and delicious as a mug of authentic hot chocolate.
©2018 J. C. Cervantes (P)2018 Listening Library
Everything Here Is Beautiful
Summary
"A tender but unflinching portrayal of the bond between two sisters." (Celeste Ng, New York Times best-selling author of Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You) A dazzling novel of two sisters and their emotional journey through love, loyalty, and heartbreak Two sisters - Miranda, the older, responsible one, always her younger sister's protector; Lucia, the headstrong, unpredictable one, whose impulses are huge and, often, life changing. When their mother dies and Lucia starts hearing voices, it is Miranda who must find a way to reach her sister. But Lucia impetuously plows ahead, marrying a bighearted, older man only to leave him, suddenly, to have a baby with a young Latino immigrant. She moves her new family from the States to Ecuador and back again, but the bitter constant is that she is, in fact, mentally ill. Lucia lives life on a grand scale, until, inevitably, she crashes to earth. Miranda leaves her own self-contained life in Switzerland to rescue her sister again - but only Lucia can decide whether she wants to be saved. The bonds of sisterly devotion stretch across oceans - but what does it take to break them? Told in alternating points of view, Everything Here Is Beautiful is, at its heart, the story of a young woman's quest to find fulfillment and a life unconstrained by her illness. But it's also an unforgettable, gut-wrenching story of the sacrifices we make to truly love someone - and when loyalty to one's self must prevail over all. Read by Cassandra Campbell, Emily Woo Zeller, Ozzie Rodriguez, Kim Mai Guest, and Paul Boehmer.
©2018 Mira T. Lee (P)2018 Penguin Audio
The Fire Keeper
Summary
Rick Riordan Presents a fiery and fast-paced sequel to The Storm Runner, in which Zane Obispo has an impossible choice to make: save other godborns like him from the angry gods, or rescue his father Hurakan from his eternal prison. Zane Obispo's new life on a beautiful secluded tropical island, complete with his family and closest friends, should be perfect. But he can't control his newfound fire skills yet (inherited from his father, the Maya god Hurakan); there's a painful rift between him and his dog ever since she became a hell hound; and he doesn't know what to do with his feelings for Brooks. One day he discovers that by writing the book about his misadventures with the Mayan gods, he unintentionally put other godborn children at risk. Unless Zane can find the godborns before the gods do, they will be killed. To make matters worse, Zane learns that Hurakan is scheduled to be executed. Zane knows he must rescue him, no matter the cost. Can he accomplish both tasks without the gods detecting him, or will he end up a permanent resident of the underworld? In this cleverly plotted sequel to The Storm Runner, the gang is back together again with spirited new characters, sneaky gods, Aztec royalty, unlikely alliances, and secrets darker than Zane could ever have imagined. Secrets that will change him forever.
©2019 J. C. Cervantes (P)2019 Listening Library
The Jaguar's Children
Summary
From the best-selling author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce, this debut novel is a gripping survival story of a young man trapped, perhaps fatally, during a border crossing. Hector is trapped. The water truck, sealed to hide its human cargo, has broken down. The coyotes have taken all the passengers' money for a mechanic and have not returned. Those left behind have no choice but to wait. Hector finds a name in his friend Cesar's phone. AnniMac. A name with an American number. He must reach her, both for rescue and to pass along the message Cesar has come so far to deliver. But are his messages going through? Over four days, as water and food run low, Hector tells how he came to this desperate place. His story takes us from Oaxaca - its rich culture, its rapid change - to the dangers of the border. It exposes the tangled ties between Mexico and El Norte - land of promise and opportunity, homewrecker and unreliable friend. And it reminds us of the power of storytelling and the power of hope, as Hector fights to ensure his message makes it out of the truck and into the world. Both an outstanding suspense novel and an arresting window into the relationship between two great cultures, The Jaguar's Children shows how deeply interconnected all of us, always, are.
©2015 John Vaillant (P)2015 Random House Audio
The Other Americans
Summary
Finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction Finalist for the Kirkus Prize in Fiction Winner of the Arab American Book Award in Fiction Named a Best Book of the Year by Time, the Washington Post, BookPage, NPR, the Guardian, Variety, New York Public Library, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Dallas Morning News, and Kirkus Reviews. From the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Moor’s Account, here is a timely and powerful novel about the suspicious death of a Moroccan immigrant - at once a family saga, a murder mystery, and a love story, informed by the treacherous fault lines of American culture. Late one spring night, Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant living in California, is walking across a darkened intersection when he is killed by a speeding car. The repercussions of his death bring together a diverse cast of characters: Guerraoui’s daughter, Nora, a jazz composer who returns to the small town in the Mojave she thought she'd left for good; his widow, Maryam, who still pines after her life in the old country; Efraín, an undocumented witness whose fear of deportation prevents him from coming forward; Jeremy, an old friend of Nora's and an Iraq War veteran; Coleman, a detective who is slowly discovering her son's secrets; Anderson, a neighbor trying to reconnect with his family; and the murdered man himself. As the characters - deeply divided by race, religion, and class - tell their stories, connections among them emerge, even as Driss’ family confronts its secrets, a town faces its hypocrisies, and love, messy and unpredictable, is born.
©2019 Laila Lalami (P)2019 Random House Audio
The Shadow Crosser
Summary
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the epic finale to the Storm Runner trilogy, written by J.C. Cervantes, a tale of mystery, magic, and mayhem featuring gods from both Maya and Aztec mythology. Zane Obispo has been looking forward to his training at the Shaman Institute for Higher Order Magic, and not only because it means he'll be reunited with his best friend, Brooks. Anything would be better than how he has spent the last three months: searching for the remaining godborns with a nasty demon who can sniff them out (literally). But when Zane tracks down the last kid on his list, he's in for a surprise: The "one" is actually a pair of twins, and they're trying to prevent a mysterious object from falling into the wrong hands. After a shocking betrayal, Zane finds himself at SHIHOM sooner than expected. Even more shocking is the news that the Maya gods have gone missing. The bat god, Camazotz, and Ixkik' (a.k.a. Blood Moon) have taken them out of commission...and the godborns are their next target. The only thing the villains need now? The object that the twins possess. Zane knows the godborns aren't strong enough yet to stand up to Zotz, Ixkik', and their army. There might be a way to save the gods, but it involves locating a magical calendar that can see across time and space...not to mention traveling more than 30 years into the past. In The Shadow Crosser, Zane and his friends embark on their most treacherous mission yet - a mission that, with one blunder, could change history as we know it, and worse, destroy the universe.
©2020 J. C. Cervantes (P)2020 Listening Library
Return to Sender
Summary
After Tyler's father is injured in a tractor accident, his family hires migrant migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn’t sure what to make of these workers. Are they undocumented? And what about the three daughters, particularly Mari, the oldest, who is proud of her Mexican heritage but also increasingly connected her American life. Her family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty they left behind in Mexico. Can Tyler and Mari find a way to be friends despite their differences? In a novel full of hope, but no easy answers, Julia Alvarez weaves a beautiful and timely story that will stay with readers long after they finish it.
©2010 Julia Alvarez (P)2010 Listening Library
Stranger
Summary
"There are times when I feel like a stranger in this country. I am not complaining and it's not for lack of opportunity. But it is something of a disappointment. I never would have imagined that after having spent 35 years in the United States I would still be a stranger to so many. But that's how it is". Jorge Ramos, an Emmy award-winning journalist, Univision's longtime anchorman and widely considered the "voice of the voiceless" within the Latino community, was forcefully removed from an Iowa press conference in 2015 by then-candidate Donald Trump after trying to ask about his plans on immigration. In this personal manifesto, Ramos sets out to examine what it means to be a Latino immigrant, or just an immigrant, in present-day America. With current research and statistics, a journalist nose for a story, and his own personal experience, Ramos shows us the changing face of America while trying to find an explanation for why he, and millions of others, still feel like strangers in this country. "It is precisely this pattern of confrontation...that has won Ramos the trust of so many Hispanics. They know that in many countries south of the United States, direct questions can provoke not simply a loss of access but also a loss of life." - Marcela Valdes, The New York Times
©2018 Jorge Ramos (P)2018 Random House Audio
Hands of Stone
Summary
The subject of the major motion picture Hands of Stone, starring Ana de Armas, Ellen Barkin, Robert De Niro, and Edgar Ramirez. Roberto Duran is a sporting legend. Often called the greatest boxer of all time, he held world titles at four different weights and is the only boxer in history to have fought in five different decades. His bouts with fellow greats like Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Marvin Hagler have gone down in fistic folklore. He finally retired in January 2002 at age 52, with a professional record of 104 wins (69 by KO) in 120 fights. They called him Manos de Piedra: "Hands of Stone". Now journalist Christian Giudice has written the first - and definitive - story of Duran's incredible life, both in and out of the ring. He has interviewed the fighter, his family, his closest friends, and scores of his opponents to separate truth from myth. Duran was born in utter poverty in Panama and grew up in the streets, fighting to survive. His talent with his fists soon emerged, and he had his first professional fight in 1967. Duran grew into a fighter's fighter. His hunger to destroy opponents and his willingness to take on anyone, anywhere, made him a huge favorite while his flamboyant lifestyle outside the ring made headline news. Duran was one of the first Latino fighters to become a mainstream sports star in the United States, and his natural talent, unprecedented achievements, and longevity made an indelible mark on the world of sport.
©2011 Christian Giudice (P)2016 Random House Audio
The Perfect Star
Summary
Return to Lake View Middle School in the third book of the PERFECT SCORE series from the beloved author of Because of Mr. Terupt. Eighth grade promises to be an unforgettable year of tears, laughter, surprises, and star power. GAVIN's days of football glory have arrived, but an accident on the home front upends his family. Ever enterprising, NATALIE anchors a morning news broadcast at school - where she's unafraid to tackle big issues. Being on the outs with his best friend sucks, but the more TREVOR tries to patch things up, the worse things get. Sidelined with a gymnastics injury, RANDI develops a bad attitude and worries that her mom's new boyfriend means changes she won't like. SCOTT discovers hidden talents...and becomes a secret weapon on and off the football field. It's the final year of middle school - a time to play hard, smart, and together!
©2019 Rob Buyea (P)2019 Listening Library
A House at the Bottom of a Lake
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of Bird Box and Malorie comes a haunting tale of love and mystery, as the date of a lifetime becomes a maddening exploration of the depths of the heart. "Malerman expertly conjures a fairy tale nostalgia of first love, and we follow along, all too willingly, ignoring the warning signs even as the fear takes hold.” (Lit Reactor) The story begins: Young lovers, anxious to connect, agree to a first date, thinking outside of the box. At 17 years old, James and Amelia can feel the rest of their lives beginning. They have got this summer and this summer alone to experience the extraordinary. But they didn’t expect to find it in a house at the bottom of a lake. The house is cold and dark, but it’s also their own. Caution be damned, until being carefree becomes dangerous. For the teens must decide: Swim deeper into the house - all the while falling deeper in love? Whatever they do, they will never be able to turn their backs on what they discovered together. And what they learned: Just because a house is empty doesn’t mean nobody’s home.
©2020 Josh Malerman (P)2020 Random House Audio
Thirsty
Summary
A gangster hiding from his past. A single mom fighting for her future. Can she show this bad boy the man he's meant to be? "Mia Hopkins is an imaginative author who doesn't take the easy road to a formulaic book." (USA Today's Happy Ever After blog) My name is Salvador Rosas. Back in the barrio, my past is written on the walls: ESHB. Short for East Side Hollenbeck, my father's gang - my gang. Hell, it's a family tradition, one that sent both my brothers away. They used to call me "Ghost" because I haunted people's dreams. Now I've got nothing going for me except a hipster gringo mentoring me in a new career. An ex-con making craft beer? No mames. Still, people in this neighborhood look out for one another. That's how I became Vanessa Velasco's unwelcome tenant. Chiquita pero picosa. She's little, but with curves so sweet they're dangerous. I remember Vanessa from the old days, the straight-A student with big plans. Plans that were derailed by another kid stupid enough to think he was bulletproof. Now Vanessa knows better than to believe in empty promises. There's fire in her...and if I touch her, I might get burned. I'm trying everything I can to go straight. But when East Side Hollenbeck comes calling, I might have to risk it all to find out if there's a future for Vanessa and me. Because she's the only one who can quench my thirst for something real. The Rosas brothers will return in Trashed!
©2018 Mia Hopkins (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
The Surrender Tree
Summary
How can there bea little war?Are some deathssmaller than others,leaving motherswho weepa little less?Cuba has fought three wars for independence, and still she is not free. Her people have been rounded up in reconcentration camps, where there is always too little food and too much illness. Rosa knows how to heal sickness with medicines made from wild plants. But with a price on her head for helping the rebels, Rosa dares not go out in the open. Instead, she turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her. Black, white, Cuban, Spanish: Rosa does her best for everyone, even Lieutenant Death, who has sworn to kill her. Yet who can heal a country so torn apart by war? In this history in verse, acclaimed poet Margarita Engle has created a lyrical, powerful portrait of Cuba.
©2008 Margarita Engle (P)2009 Listening Library
Dogfight, A Love Story
Summary
What Jonathan Lethem did for Brooklyn, Matt Burgess does for Queens in this exuberant and brilliant debut novel about a young drug dealer having a very bad weekend. Alfredo Batista has some worries. Okay, a lot of worries. His older brother, Jose—sorry, Tariq—is returning from a stretch in prison after an unsuccessful robbery, a burglary that Alfredo was supposed to be part of. So now everyone thinks Alfredo snitched on his brother, which may have something to do with the fact that Alfredo is now dating Tariq’s ex-girlfriend, Isabel, who is eight months pregnant. Tariq’s violent streak is probably #1 worry on Alfredo’s list. Also, he needs to steal a pit bull. For the homecoming dogfight. Burgess brings to life the rich and vivid milieu of his hometown native Queens in all its glorious variety. Here is the real New York, a place where Pakistanis, Puerto Ricans, Haitians, An ?glos, African Americans, and West Indians scrap and mingle and love. But the real star here is Burgess’s incredible ear for language—the voices of his characters leap off the page in riotous, spot-on dialogue. The outer boroughs have their own language, where a polite greeting is fraught with menace, and an insult can be the expression of the most tender love. With a story as intricately plotted as a Shakespearean comedy—or revenge tragedy, for that matter—and an electrically col ?loquial prose style, Dogfight, a Love Story establishes Matt Burgess as an exuberant new voice in contemporary literature. The great Queens novel has arrived.
©2010 Matt Burgess (P)2010 Random House Audio
The Poet Slave of Cuba
Summary
A lyrical biography of a Cuban slave who escaped to become a celebrated poet. Born into the household of a wealthy slave owner in Cuba in 1797, Juan Francisco Manzano spent his early years by the side of a woman who made him call her Mama, even though he had a mama of his own. Denied an education, young Juan still showed an exceptional talent for poetry. His verses reflect the beauty of his world, but they also expose its hideous cruelty. Powerful, haunting poems create a portrait of a life in which even the pain of slavery could not extinguish the capacity for hope.
©2006 Margarita Engle (P)2009 Listening Library
Tropical Secrets
Summary
Last year, in Berlinon the Night of Crystalmy grandfather was killedwhile I held his hand.Daniel has escaped Nazi Germany with nothing but a desperate dream that he might one day find his parents again. But that golden land called New York has turned away the ship full of refugees, and Daniel finds himself in Cuba.As the tropical island begins to work its magic on him, the young refugee befriends a local girl with some painful secrets of her own. Yet even in Cuba, the Nazi darkness is never far away. At once deeply personal and utterly universal, Tropical Secrets is a stunning new history in verse from award-winning poet Margarita Engle.
©2009 Margarita Engle (P)2009 Listening Library
The Perfect Secret
Summary
From the beloved author of Because of Mr. Terupt comes the sequel to The Perfect Score, about a lovable group of students at Lake View Middle School and the rewards and challenges of seventh grade. These students are in for a year of secrets, discoveries, and kid power! Gavin finally joins the football team - a dream come true! - but Coach Holmes refuses to play him for reasons that also threaten to tear Gavin's family apart. When Randi attends an elite gymnastics camp, she uncovers a startling family connection. Scott starts researching an article for the school newspaper and stumbles right into a hornet's nest of lies. With his loser older brother, Brian, out of the house, Trevor's life is loads better - until he realizes only he can save Brian from getting into deep trouble. Natalie's top goals: (1.) find out why Mrs. Woods and Mrs. Magenta no longer speak to each other - a mission shared by all the kids - and (2.) teach a certain someone an important life skill without anyone knowing. It's tough keeping secrets. And tougher still to deal with the fallout when secrets spill out. Cast of narrators: Ozzie Rodriguez, as Gavin Caitlin Davies, as Natalie Robbie Daymond, as Scott Abigail Revasch, as Randi Todd Haberkorn, as Trevor
©2018 Rob Buyea (P)2018 Listening Library
Queer Brown Voices
Summary
In the last three decades of the 20th century, LGBT Latinas/os faced several forms of discrimination. The greater Latino community did not often accept sexual minorities, and the mainstream LGBT movement expected everyone, regardless of their ethnic and racial background, to adhere to a specific set of priorities so as to accommodate a “unified” agenda. To disrupt the cycle of sexism, racism, and homophobia that they experienced, LGBT Latinas/os organized themselves on local, state, and national levels, forming communities in which they could fight for equal rights while simultaneously staying true to both their ethnic and sexual identities. Yet histories of LGBT activism in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s often reduce the role that Latinas/os played, resulting in misinformation, or ignore their work entirely, erasing them from history. Queer Brown Voices is the first book published to counter this trend, documenting the efforts of some of these LGBT Latina/o activists. Comprising essays and oral history interviews that present the experiences of 14 activists across the United States and in Puerto Rico, the book offers a new perspective on the history of LGBT mobilization and activism. The activists discuss subjects that shed light not only on the organizations they helped to create and operate but also on their broad-ranging experiences of being racialized and discriminated against, fighting for access to health care during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and struggling for awareness.
©2015 The University of Texas Press (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Rebel
Summary
She's Penna Carstairs. The Renegade they call Rebel. FMX-treme Magazine's sexiest female athlete of the year. There's no rule in extreme sports she hasn't broken, no gender barrier she hasn't demolished. She's the woman I met in a bar in Vegas. The woman I illegally BASE jumped for. The woman I spent one insane, incredible night with. But now I'm screwed. Or rather...not screwed. Because the woman I can't get out of my head is the one woman I can never touch again. I'm Dr. Cruz Delgado - the youngest professor on this campus - and Penelope Carstairs just walked into my class. Each book in The Renegades series is a stand-alone story that can be enjoyed out of order.
©2017 Rebecca Yarros (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
![Cover art for Devolver al Remitente [Return to Sender]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61ACUiHk-1L._SL500_.jpg)
Devolver al Remitente [Return to Sender]
Summary
After Tyler's father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn't sure what to make of these workers. Are they undocumented? And what about the three daughters, particularly Mari, the oldest, who is proud of her Mexican heritage but also increasingly connected her American life. Her family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty they left behind in Mexico. Can Tyler and Mari find a way to be friends despite their differences? In a novel full of hope, but no easy answers, Julia Alvarez weaves a beautiful and timely story that will stay with readers long after they finish it. Please note: This title is in Spanish.
©2010 Olivia Preciado (P)2010 Listening Library