Narrator Soneela Nankani suffuses Serwa Boateng with strength and passion in Roseanne A. Brown’s fantastic audiobook for middle-grade listeners. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the fun and thrills of getting to hear Serwa’s story, rooted in Ghanaian folklore. Serwa has spent her life training with her parents to fight deadly adze, fierce vampires. Suddenly, she’s sent to live with non-magical family members while her parents go on a deadlier mission, and she has to navigate middle school for the first time. As Serwa goes up against bullies and racist teachers, Nankani leans into her pain—but when an adze appears at school, Serwa finds a team of unlikely allies. 

Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Disney Hyperion.

Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com

Behind the Mic is supported by Brilliance Publishing who recently released The Survivalists, a sharp, funny novel by Kashana Cauley. An ambitious Black lawyer has dreams of making partner, until she falls for a coffee entrepreneur and moves into his Brooklyn brownstone with his doomsday-prepping roommates. Packed with tension, curiosity and optimized soy protein bars, The Survivalists is a darkly funny novel by Kashana Cauley, a former writer for The Daily Show and Pod Save America.

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