On The Come Up

"Robin: Before we talk about On the Come Up , we should perhaps talk about The Hate U Give . That’s Angie Thomas’s book that is so well-known and was read by Bahni Turpin. It received loads of awards, both for the print and the audiobook. On the Come Up was certainly a very moving and strong book, but I’m not sure it was quite at the same level. Mary: As Robin says, The Hate U Give was one of those blockbuster books that connected with so many teens, no matter what their cultural background might have been. It let them see into another world and forged this super-strong connection with so many teens and adults. Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best children’s and young adult books, as recommended by authors, teachers, librarians and, of course, kids. Replicating the same duo of author plus narrator—with Bahni Turpin again doing Angie Thomas’s book—there’s this nice alignment of an author-narrator team. That might bring continued listening by people who might not listen to every book in the world. So I think having that same team again makes a big difference. Robin: It certainly does, you can hold onto teen listeners with something like this. The two stories are not exactly related, I don’t believe. So it’s not as if you had have to listen to one or the other. It’s just that it’s a great combination of narrator plus author."