Finding Audrey

After suffering horrendous long-term harassment from bullies at school, Audrey suffered an emotional breakdown and is now at home with severe social anxiety, afraid to leave the house, terrified of speaking to anyone outside her family, and wearing dark glasses all the time to avoid looking anyone in the eye. Meanwhile, her well-meaning but shrill mother is constantly getting into screaming matches with Audrey’s brother Frank over his excessive video game playing. But therapy and an unexpected relationship with Linus, a kind, funny friend of Frank’s who visits the house, help Audrey begin to heal and come out of her shell. Reading as Audrey, Whelan sounds exactly like an adolescent girl. She perfectly conveys the protagonist’s conflicting emotions—anxiety, exasperation, hope—and often sounds like she is struggling to put her feelings into words. She also creates distinctive, memorable voices for the other characters: reasonable Dad, overexcitable Mum, sarcastic Frank, adorable four-year-old Felix. With many moments of Kinsella’s signature humor to lighten the subject matter, this audiobook will be appreciated by teens, as well anyone suffering from anxiety and the Shopaholic author’s many fans. Ages 12–up. A Delacorte hardcover. (June)