The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production is presented to the producer of the best audiobook produced for youth available in English in the United States. The award is jointly given and administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), divisions of ALA, and is sponsored by Booklist.

2009 Winner

THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN
written and narrated by Sherman Alexie
Recorded Books
ISBN: 9781436124904
Ages 12-up
January 2008

In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, an aspiring cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the reservation to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

2009 Honors

CURSE OF THE BLUE TATTOO: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady
written by L.A. Meyer
narrated by Katherine Kellgren
Listen & Live Audio
ISBN: 9781593161347
Ages 12-up
April 2008

After being forced to leave HMS Dolphin and Jaimy, her true love, Jacky Faber is making a new start at the elite Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston. But growing up on the streets of London and fighting pirates never prepared Jacky for her toughest battle yet: learning how to be a fine lady.

Everything she does is wrong. Her embroidery is deplorable, her French is atrocious, and her table manners --- disgusting! Then there's the small matter of her blue anchor tattoo…

Despite her best efforts, Jacky can't seem to stay out of trouble long enough to dedicate herself to being ladylike. But what fun would that be, anyway?

ELIJAH OF BUXTON
written by Christopher Paul Curtis
narrated by Mirron Willis
Listening Library
ISBN: 9780739367193
Ages 9-up
March 2008

Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He’s best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah’s friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled --- a life from which he’ll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home.

I’M DIRTY!
written by Kate and Jim McMullan
narrated by Steve Buscemi
Weston Woods Studios
ISBN: 9780545094498
Ages 4-7
January 2008

Clank! Rattle! Bang!

Who's making all that noise?
"Backhoe Loader, reporting for duty."
Cleaning up a mess? Easy as pie.
Make that a mud pie.

RRRRRM! RRRRRM!
Who wants to be clean when it's so much fun being dirty?
Clunk!
I just LOVE my job!

MARTINA THE BEAUTIFUL COCKROACH: A Cuban Folktale
written and narrated by Carmen Agra Deedy
Peachtree Publishers
ISBN: 9781561454679
Ages 4-8
September 2008

Martina the beautiful cockroach doesn’t know coffee beans about love and marriage. That’s where her Cuban family comes in. While some of the Cucarachas offer her gifts to make her more attractive, only Abuela, her grandmother, gives her something really useful: un consejo increíble, some shocking advice.

At first, Martina is skeptical of her Abuela’s unorthodox suggestion, but when suitor after suitor fails the Coffee Test, she wonders if a little green cockroach can ever find true love. Soon, only the gardener Pérez, a tiny brown mouse, is left. But what will happen when Martina offers him café cubano?

NATION
written by Terry Pratchett
narrated by Stephen Briggs
Harper Children’s Audio
ISBN: 9780061658211
Ages 12-up
September 2008

Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle, Daphne --- a girl from the other side of the globe --- is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave. Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne's sheltering fire, other refugees slowly arrive: children without parents, mothers without babies, husbands without wives --- all of them hungry and all of them frightened. As Mau and Daphne struggle to keep the small band safe and fed, they defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down.