NYPL's Best Books of 2021: Accessible Versions with BARD & Bookshare Links
The New York Public Library is pleased to announce its Best Books of 2021 for kids, teens, and adults! Many of these books are available in one or more accessible formats, as linked below.
If you find it hard to read standard print, The New York Public Library’s Andrew Heiskell Library provides free access to talking books, talking book players, braille, a talking book download website and a free talking book and e-braille app for mobile devices. Learn more and apply.
Note: DB = available on BARD in talking book format and as a mailable talking book. BR = available on BARD in braille format and as mailable physical braille. These formats are available through the links, or you can call us at 212-206-5400 to order a physical copy through the mail. Some titles are available through Bookshare and can be found through the Bookshare (BK) link under that title. All Heiskell members can gain access to Bookshare for free.
DB (digital talkingbook) / BR (braille) / BK (Bookshare)
Adults
Act Your Age, Eve Brown: A Novel by Talia Hibbert: DB, BK
Afterparties: Stories by Anthony Veasna So: BK
Bolla: A Novel by Pajtim Statovci, translated from the Finnish by David Hackston: DB, BK
The Book of Accidents: A Novel by Chuck Wendig: BK
The Burning Girls: A Novel by C.J. Tudor: DB, BK
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo: BK
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson: BK
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner: DB, BK
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: Stories by Mariana Enriquez, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell: BK
The Death of Jane Lawrence: A Novel by Caitlin Starling: BK
Detransition, Baby: A Novel by Torrey Peters: BK
The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine Heath: BK
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey: DB, BK
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe: DB, BK
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It: A Mystery by Elle Cosimano: DB, BK
Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn: BK
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach: BK
Hao: Stories by Ye Chun: BK
Hell of a Book: A Novel by Jason Mott: BK
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith: DB, BK
Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer: DB, BK
In the Shadow of the Empress: The Defiant Lives of Maria Theresa, Mother of Marie Antoinette, and Her Daughters by Nancy Goldstone: BK
Infinite Country: A Novel by Patricia Engel: DB, BK
The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan: DB, BK
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri: BK
The Jigsaw Man: A Novel by Nadine Matheson: BK
The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes: BK
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki: BK
A Lot Like Adiós by Alexis Daria: BK
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark: DB, BK
Matrix: A Novel by Lauren Groff: BK
Mona by Pola Oloixarac, translated from the Spanish by Adam Morris: BK
My Broken Language: A Memoir by Quiara Alegría Hudes: DB, BK
My Monticello: Fiction by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson: BK
Neon Gods by Katee Robert: DB, BK
Never Have I Ever: Stories by Isabel Yap: DB
Never Saw Me Coming: A Novel by Vera Kurian: BK
Northern Spy: A Novel by Flynn Berry: BK
Out of Character by Annabeth Albert: BK
Project Hail Mary: A Novel by Andy Weir: BK
Razorblade Tears: A Novel by S.A. Cosby: BK
The Reading List: A Novel by Sara Nisha Adams: DB, BK
Red X: A Novel by David Demchuk: BK
Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor: DB, BK
Revelator: A Novel by Daryl Gregory: BK
The Rock Eaters: Stories by Brenda Peynado: BK
Rock Paper Scissors: A Novel by Alice Feeney: BK
Ruby Red Herring: An Avery Ayers Antique Mystery by Tracy Gardner: BK
Seven Days in June: A Novel by Tia Williams: DB
Sorrowland: A Novel by Rivers Solomon: BK
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark: BK
This Thing Between Us: A Novel by Gus Moreno: BK
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: DB, BK
Waiting for a Scot Like You: The Union of the Rakes by Eva Leigh: BK
What Storm, What Thunder: A Novel by Myriam J.A. Chancy: BK
When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson by Ellen Datlow (editor): BK
The Wildest Ride by Marcella Bell: BK
Teens
Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis: DB, BK
Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray: BK
Black Birds in the Sky by Brandy Colbert: BK
Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Hip-Hop History (Young Adult Edition) by Jeff Chang & Dave "Davey D" Cook: BK
Chlorine Sky: A Novel by Mahogany L. Browne: DB
The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros: BK
The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris: DB, BK
Darling by K. Ancrum: BK
Disability Visibility: 17 First-Person Stories for Today by Alice Wong: BK
Dustborn by Erin Bowman: DB, BK
Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney: DB, BK
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley: DB, BK
From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo: DB, BK
The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe: BK
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland: DB, BK
How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland: BK
Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield: DB, BK
If I Tell You the Truth by Jasmin Kaur: BK
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao: BK
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo: DB, BK
Love Is a Revolution by Renée Watson: BK
The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky: DB, BK
Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi: DB, BK
Punching Bag by Rex Ogle: BK
Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke by Andrew Maraniss: DB, BK
Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp: DB, BK
This Is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey: BK
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron: DB
The Valley and the Flood by Rebecca Mahoney: BK
The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon: BK
Kids
African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History by Tracey Baptiste: BK
Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd, illustrated by Michelle Mee Nutter: DB
Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston: BK
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids by Cynthia Leitich Smith (editor): DB, BK
Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs: BK
Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom by Matthew Swanson, illustrated by Robbi Behr: DB
Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood by Kwame Mbalia (editor): DB, BK
The Boy Whose Head Was Filled with Stars: A Life of Edwin Hubble by Isabelle Marinov: BR
Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera: BK
The Dreamweavers by G.Z. Schmidt: BK
I Am Smoke by Henry Herz, illustrated by Mercè López: BK
J.D. and the Great Barber Battle by J. Dillard, illustrated by Akeem S. Roberts: DB, BK
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera: BK
Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes: DB
The Magical Imperfect by Chris Baron: BK
The Many Meanings of Meilan by Andrea Wang: DB, BK
Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly: BK
Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know by Brittany Luby, illustrated by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley: BK
Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson: DB, BR
My Day with the Panye by Tami Charles, illustrated by Sara Palacios: DB
The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as Told to His Brother) by David Levithan: BK
The Old Boat by Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey: BK
Ophie's Ghosts by Justina Ireland: DB, BK
A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus: BK
Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca: BK
Root Magic by Eden Royce: BK
Simon B. Rhymin' by Dwayne Reed: DB, BK
Stamped (for Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul, illustrated by Rachelle Baker: DB, BK
Starfish by Lisa Fipps: DB, BK
Thanks a Lot, Universe by Chad Lucas: BK
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff: BK
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper: DB
While I Was Away by Waka T. Brown: BK