Your YAs are going to want to hear this: Audiobook SYNC is back

It’s back! Now in its 9th annual season, Audiobook SYNC just announced its free book pairings for teen listeners for this spring and summer.  You can dig into the first of the weekly pairings on April 26th. at 7:00 PM Eastern. Each week from April 26 through July 25, SYNC will release two high-interest titles for young adult readers.

Sponsored by AudioFile Magazine, SYNC offers its free titles in Mac and Windows-compatible MP3 format through the OverDrive app.

I love that we can get our students ready for action in April, May, and June before they leave us.

It would be good to encourage readers to download the app in advance for the device of their choice. (I’d do that right before I start working with a class.) You might also suggest that readers sign up to receive alerts of new Thursday evening offerings by text or by email newsletter. Each SYNC audiobook will be available for download for a period of 7 days, but the titles are yours to keep after download.

If you are new to this wonderful program for YAs and those of us who love audiobooks, you might want to get started by viewing the archived webcast sharing AudiobookSYNC’s how’s and why’s, made possible by Overdrive.

This is an opportunity you’ll want to share broadly with colleagues, classroom teachers, parents and book club leaders, local camps, homeschoolers, and any of the usual suspects who will be working with kids this summer.  I would share this opportunity with high school teachers immediately and I would consider it as a summer booklist building tool. (Note the interdisciplinarity of the titles below.)

A page for adults shares a rationale for encouraging teens to read in audio format, including these graphics.

Don’t miss the fabulous Toolkit packed with resources to help you promote your students’ involvement. It includes posters (for physical and digital use), banners, logos,  a press release for local promotion, and my personal favorite–audio clip previews.