Featured KidLit BEST FRIENDS Audio Book by Shannon Hale

Q: Why did you think it was important to publish Best Friends as an audiobook?

A: I am passionate about graphic novels. They are reaching readers that no other books can! But they also exclude some readers. Having an engaging audiobook is a great way to make graphic novels accessible to the blind and vision impaired, as well as other readers who don’t thrive with visual formats.

Q: Do you listen to audiobooks yourself? How did they serve as an inspiration for the production?

A: I almost always have an audiobook I’ve borrowed from the library via the Libby app. I love to read books, but I’m a mom to four kids, so the times I’m free to sit and read are rare. I’m also a visual learner, so listening to audiobooks has been great to help me develop better auditory learning.

Q: What activities do you do when you listen to audiobooks?

A: So much! Laundry, cleaning, driving to pick up kids, going for a walk, doing stretches and floor pilates, grocery shopping.

Q: Tell us about the audiobook bonus conversation with your daughters, and why you thought that was important to be included in the production?

A: That was pure serendipity. When Best Friends first came out, my second child was in sixth grade, so she served as my in-house focus group. When I was working on the audiobook, my youngest—twin daughters—happened to be in sixth grade. I was invited to visit a school in New York City on dates that overlapped with their 12th birthday, so I took them with my on their first ever NYC trip! Macmillan is in the city, so I thought, this is perfect. What if I interviewed my daughters about what it’s like in sixth grade today versus how it was for me? We had a blast. We had to edit down the conversation some because we could talk together for hours.

Q: What was it like to narrate the audiobook? Did anything surprise you about the narration process?

A: The biggest challenge was writing the audiobook script. I had to find ways to retell a visual story in audio, but I also didn’t want to add too much narration so that kids could read along with the graphic novel while listening to the audiobook. To keep from over-narrating, we utilized a lot of sound cues to replace the visuals. It’s more like a radio drama than traditional audiobooks. Narrating was pretty fun. I was in theater growing up, so I leaned into those old muscles. I did learn one important lesson—don’t choose a salad for lunch. My post-lunch session kept getting interrupted by my stomach gurgles. The microphone picks up everything!