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Ab(solutely) Normal: Short Stories that Smash Mental Health Stereotypes Audiobook
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Publisher Description
Channeling their own experiences, sixteen exceptional authors subvert mental health stereotypes in a powerful and uplifting collection of fiction.
A teen activist wrestles with protest-related anxiety and PTSD. A socially anxious vampire learns he has to save his town by (gulp) working with people. As part of her teshuvah, a girl writes letters to the ex-boyfriend she still loves, revealing that her struggle with angry outbursts is related to PMDD. A boy sheds uncontrollable tears but finds that in doing so he’s helping to enable another’s healing. In this inspiring, unflinching, and hope-filled mixed-genre collection, sixteen diverse and notable authors draw on their own lived experiences with mental health conditions to create stunning works of fiction that will uplift and empower you, break your heart and stitch it back together stronger than before. Through powerful prose, verse, and graphics, the characters in this anthology defy stereotypes as they remind listeners that living with a mental health condition doesn’t mean that you’re defined by it. Each story is followed by a note from its author to the listener, and comprehensive back matter includes bios for the contributors as well as a collection of relevant resources.
With contributions by:
Mercedes Acosta, Karen Jialu Bao, James Bird, Rocky Callen, Nora Shalaway Carpenter, Alechia Dow, Patrick Downes, Anna Drury, Nikki Grimes, Val Howlett, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, Sonia Patel, Marcella Pixley, Isabel Quintero, Ebony Stewart, and Francisco X. Stork
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About the Authors
Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her distinguished works include the ALA Notable book What is Goodbye?, as well as the novels Jazmin’s Notebook, Dark Sons, and The Road to Paris, all of them Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books. She won the Coretta Scott King Author Award for Bronx Masquerade. She lives in Corona, California.
Marcella Pixley is the author of three highly praised books for young adults that have received multiple starred reviews, including Ready to Fall, which was a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. She earned a master’s from Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College, and she teaches writing to middle schoolers in Massachusetts.
Karen Bao is a writer, musician, and aspiring scientist. She has a brother three years younger than her and a violin sixty years older than her. Born in California and raised in New Jersey, she currently studies environmental biology at college in New York City. She began writing Dove Arising at the age of seventeen.
Isabel Quintero lives and writes in the Inland Empire of Southern California, where she was born and raised. Her debut novel, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, was the recipient of five starred reviews and several awards, including the 2015 Morris YA Debut Award and the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award. For fun she reads and writes, watches comedies, and eats paletas and chicharrónes every chance she gets. Her favorite paleta flavor? Pues coco, of course.
Alechia Dow is a former librarian and pastry chef living abroad with her partner in Germany. When she’s not writing, you can find her having epic dance parties with her daughter, baking, reading, or taking teeny adventures around Europe.
Francisco X. Stork is the author of Marcelo in the Real World and five other novels. Francisco studied at Spring Hill College, Harvard University, and Columbia Law School. He spent more than three decades working as a lawyer while also working on his writing career. He retired in 2015 and spends his time writing outside of Boston where he lives with his wife.
About the Narrators
Priya Ayyar is an audiobook narrator, actor, and writer with a BFA and MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her acting credits for television and film include Law & Order: Criminal Intent, All My Children, and the documentary The Children of War. She has appeared on stage in War of the Unheard, Aminta, and The Road Home, and she has written and performed in the plays Karmic Fusion and Losing Remote Control.
Maxwell Glick is an actor based in Los Angeles. He has appeared on television in guest roles in numerous shows such as The Office and Castle. He also has voiced numerous commercials, audiobooks, and cartoons. Originally a regional theater actor, Glick has played Arpad in She Loves Me, Matt in The Fantasticks, and Eugene in Brighton Beach Memoirs. A New York native, he is a graduate of Boston College.
Aiden Snow is a romance and erotica narrator and winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award who has been called “the crown prince of audio romance.” His rich baritone has garnered a solid fan base and has allowed him to range from paranormal romance to military romance, from “motorcycle bad boy” to “boardroom dom.”
Tara Sands is an American actress, television host, and voice talent who has won numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards for narration. She is former cohost of Fridays on the Cartoon Network. In addition to performing in plays and musicals, her voice can be heard on numerous commercials, audiobooks, cartoons, and video games.
Shaun Taylor-Corbett is an actor, singer, and writer. A graduate of the University of Delaware, he has television and Broadway credits, including the role of Sonny on Broadway in In the Heights. He also has off-Broadway credits including In the Heights and Altar Boyz.
Tavia Gilbert is an acclaimed narrator of more than four hundred full-cast and multivoice audiobooks for virtually every publisher in the industry. Named the 2018 Voice of Choice by Booklist magazine, she is also winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has earned numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award. Audible.com has named her a Genre-Defining Narrator: Master of Memoir. In addition to voice acting, she is an accomplished producer, singer, and theater actor. She is also a producer, singer, photographer, and a writer, as well as the cofounder of a feminist publishing company, Animal Mineral.