Anyone who has attended middle school can attest that it’s an especially difficult phase of life. While many have navigated the troubled waters of popularity, first crushes and finding their own path, none have explained these pivotal years quite like author Shannon Hale and illustrator LeUyen Pham in the national and New York Times best-selling graphic memoir Best Friends.
Best Friends recounts the obstacles Hale faced in sixth-grade; some of which are the same challenges her own kids faced during that tumultuous time in their lives, which can now be heard as an audiobook.
The immersive and detailed sound design places you right in the center of the story, evoking familiar feelings from past middle school memories. The talented cast, featuring Hale, portrays the joys and challenges of middle school. Between navigating new experiences and forming friendships, Hale’s writing and storytelling remarkably depict the relatable struggle of finding a place to belong.
While Hale’s story is set in the 1980s and includes the familiar sounds of cassette tapes, landline telephones, and antenna television sets, the lessons Hale learns are still relevant to the present day. In Hale’s own words, “the emotions kids felt decades ago are the same ones they feel today, and as humans we connect through emotional empathy” (Comics Beat).
The Best Friends audiobook features a bonus conversation between Hale and her two sixth-grade daughters that reveals the parallels between middle school in the 1980s and the 2020s. This audio production was a true family affair, as Hale’s husband and children also voice small parts in the audiobook adaptation. With its timeless life lessons and relatable narration, Hale’s memoir is sure to be enjoyed and remembered by readers and listeners of all ages.
For anyone that may struggle with reading print, focusing on text, or vision impairments, the auditory format offers an easily-digestible way to enjoy the memoir. Hale acknowledges that some kids struggle with understanding the imagery in graphic novels, which is why she wanted to “make graphic novels accessible to the blind and vision impaired, as well as other readers who don’t thrive with visual formats” (Comics Beat). The audiobook is also excellent for readers and listeners who want to improve their auditory comprehension or simply struggle to find a time to dedicate to sitting down with a book. Hale, who relates to both, said, “(Audiobooks have) enabled me to just read so many more books than I would have otherwise and I think it’s also improved my ability to absorb auditory information, which is awesome” (Deseret).