Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas, Read by Dion Graham
The stunning prequel to The Hate U Give
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Narrator Dion Graham shines bright in this YA prequel, Concrete Rose, set 17 years before Thomas’s bestseller The Hate U Give. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Graham’s skill at bringing this work to life. Listeners get to know Starr’s father, Maverick, at a sudden shift in his life—he’s become a father and is thrust into a whole new role as a caregiver. Graham adds to the emotional connection with the sound of his voice, easily shifting between Maverick’s sometimes frantic internal dialogue and the words he speaks aloud. It is a well-paced audiobook filled with nuances in both writing and performance, and difficult to put down.
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