Top 10 Multicultural Young Adult Audiobooks

Multicultural young adult audiobooks are a great alternative or addition to reading books! They can enhance literacy skills such as vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. But most of all, they are fun to listen to and fantastic for those times when reading a book seems like too much of an effort. Enjoy our selection of some of the best multicultural young adult audiobooks!

Top 10 Multicultural Young Adult Audiobooks

Ace of Spades
by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students’ dark secrets to light. Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power. Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they’re planning much more than a high school game…. Ace of Spades is an utterly compulsive, high-octane thriller that takes a powerful look at institutionalized racism. ~ African – High School

Apple: (Skin to the Core)
by Eric Gansworth

The term “Apple” is a slur in Native communities across the country. It’s for someone supposedly “red on the outside, white on the inside.” Eric Gansworth reclaims that slur in heartbreaking verse, prose and imagery. Apple tells the story of the author’s family, of Onondaga among Tuscaroras, of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young man fighting to be an artist who balances multiple worlds. This is one of the most moving multicultural young adult audiobooks, and it will stay with listeners long after they finished it! ~ Diverse – High School

Chlorine Sky
by Mahogany L. Browne

“She looks me hard in my eyes / & my knees lock into tree trunks / My eyes don’t dance like my heartbeat racing / They stare straight back hot daggers. / I remember things will never be the same. / I remember things.” With gritty and heartbreaking honesty, Chlorine Sky is a breathtaking novel-in-verse about broken promises, fast rumors, and when growing up means growing apart from your best friend. ~ African – High School

Concrete Rose
by Angie Thomas

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison. Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control. Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. Concrete Rose is a searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood that revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give. ~ African – High School

Firekeeper’s Daughter
by Angeline Boulley

Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. But then Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that thrusts her into an FBI investigation. As the deceptions―and deaths―keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known. Firekeeper’s Daughter is a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community. ~ Diverse – High School

When You Look Like Us
by Pamela Harris

When you look like us—brown skin, brown eyes, black braids or fades—everyone else thinks you’re trouble. No one even blinks twice over a missing Black girl from public housing. I, Jay Murphy, can admit that, for a minute, I thought my sister Nicole just got caught up with her boyfriend—a drug dealer—and his friends. But she’s been gone too long. Nic, where are you? If I hadn’t hung up on her that night, she would be at our house, spending time with Grandma. If I was a better brother, she’d be finishing senior year instead of being another name on a missing persons list. It’s time to step up, to do what the Newport News police department won’t. Bring her home. When You Look Like Us is a timely, gripping teen novel is about a boy who must take up the search for his missing sister. ~ African – High School

The Gilded Ones
by Namina Forna

16-year-old Deka fears the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood but on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death. When a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her, Deka decides to leave the only life she’s ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she discovers that nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself. The Gildes Ones is the first book in a dark feminist fantasy series for fans of Children of Blood and Bone. ~ African – High School

How Moon Fuentez Fell In Love With The Universe
by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

When her twin sister reaches social media stardom, Moon Fuentez accepts her fate as the ugly, unwanted sister hidden in the background, destined to be nothing more than her sister’s camerawoman. But this summer, Moon also takes a job as the “merch girl” on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers and her fate begins to shift in the best way possible. How Moon Fuentez Fell In Love With The Universe is an irresistible romance starring a Mexican American teen who discovers love and profound truths about the universe while road tripping across the country. ~ Hispanic – High School

K-Pop Confidential

by Stephan Lee

When Candace Park enters a K-pop audition at the mall on a dare, she doesn’t expect to actually win. But then she is offered a chance to train at the top Korean music company in the world. The only problem is, in addition to the round-the-clock singing lessons, dance rehearsals, and beauty treatments, Candace has to agree to follow the uber-strict rules, including no dating. But this becomes pretty much impossible to follow when Candace finds herself in the middle of a love triangle between a sweet boy trainee and a superstar member of the hottest boy band in the world. Will all of her hard work be wasted if she follows her heart? Or can she be the perfect idol and stay true to herself at the same time? K-Pop Confidential is a romantic coming-of-age novel about following your heart and staying true to yourself in the process. ~ Asian – High School

Last Night at the Telegraph Club
by Malinda Lo

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu fell in love with Kathleen Miller under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Suddenly everything seemed possible. But 1954 America is not a safe place for two girls in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day. Last Night At The Telegraph Club is a beautifully narrated romantic queer young adult story. This is our absolute favourite on this list of multicultural young adult audiobooks! ~ Asian – High School