SYNC Summer 2014: Week 12 #syncya

Yay, it's finally, officially summer! The kids are out of school, and the temperatures, they are a-rising. =) You know what that means! Free audiobooks! =D SYNC recently announced the list of audiobook pairings up for grabs this summer. Here's what you can grab through Wednesday of next week...for free!

This week's YA title is Divided We Fall by Trent Reedy, performed by Andrew Eiden et al. for Scholastic Audo.

From the author of the acclaimed WORDS IN THE DUST: an action-packed YA novel set in a frighteningly plausible near future, about what happens when the States are no longer United.

Danny Wright never thought he'd be the man to bring down the United States of America. In fact, he enlisted in the National Guard because he wanted to serve his country the way his father did. When the Guard is called up on the Idaho governor's orders to police a protest in Boise, it seems like a routine crowd-control mission ... but then Danny's gun misfires, spooking the other soldiers and the already fractious crowd, and by the time the smoke clears, twelve people are dead.

The president wants the soldiers arrested. The governor swears to protect them. And as tensions build on both sides, the conflict slowly escalates toward the unthinkable: a second American civil war.

With political questions that are popular in American culture yet rare in YA fiction, and a provocative plot that could far too easily become real, DIVIDED WE FALL is Trent Reedy's very timely YA debut.

This week's classic title is The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, performed by Frank Muller for Recorded Books.

At the time he wrote The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane had never witnessed a battle. Crane’s older brother fought in the Battle of Chancellorsville, however, and Crane listened carefully to his brother’s reminiscences. The result is the classic Civil War novel, and one of the greatest stories of all time. Henry Fleming was always playing soldier at home on the farm. Now, on the battlefield, shells burst in front of him like strange flowers, gunfire rips toward him in great crackling sheets of flame, and all around him, blue-coated figures lie still on the blood-drenched grass. The Battle of Chancellorsville has begun. Stephen Crane’s most famous work stands alone as the testimony of a young man compelled to mature during a bloody Civil War battle.

I always liked studying the Civil War in American History, but I'm not really a fan of reading those kinds of stories much these days. That's more my husband's area. He'll watch or read anything having to do with war or military or the like. I read The Red Badge of Courage ages ago, but I distinctly remember not liking it then, and I doubt the audio version will help in this case. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to pass on both of these titles this week, unless the husband wants to listen to them.

How about you? Will you be picking up either of these titles?  Remember, they're only available through Wednesday, and new titles will be put up on Thursday for download.  Other things to note:

• CHECK OUT the 2014 titles!
• LISTEN to sound clips on SoundCloud to help you decide!
• GET your device ready! You must have the OverDrive Media Console or APP to download the SYNC titles! Visit the OverDrive website to download.
• Questions? Email: synchelp@audiofilemagazine.com
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To download this week's titles, just click on the image below to be taken directly to the SYNC download page:

I hope you take advantage of this program. I've been doing it for the last few years, and I've had the opportunity to listen to a ton of great audio for free.  If you've never tried audiobooks before, it's a great opportunity to do so without the obligation of buying one that you might not enjoy.  And if you love audiobooks, well, it's a great time to stock up on some titles you may have missed.  Win/win.  =)