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The Talk

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

"The audiobook version of The Talk,...isn't a graphic novel stripped of its pictures; it's a radio play that delivers its own powerful aural experience. The production employs music, subtle sound effects and a cast that includes Bell and his little boy. The charming humor and incisive wisdom that elevates the print version of 'The Talk' are amply conveyed by these narrators in an audiobook that's clearly been designed from the bottom up to exploit the format's unique advantages. For some listeners, this will be a deeply personal experience; for others, an illuminating lesson in empathy. But no matter who you are, you're ready to have "The Talk."—The Washington Post

"In its audio translation, the highlight is Darrin Bell's storytelling ability, enriched by a soundscape that includes music, sound effects, and archival audio...a powerhouse audio that should be widely recommended."—Booklist (Starred Review)


This program features multicast narration.
Winner of the NAACP Image Award in Outstanding Graphic Novels
Winner of the Libby Award for Best Comic/Graphic Novel of the Year
Nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Memoir
Named The Year's Best Graphic Novel by Publishers Weekly
Named one of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Best Books of 2023
Named one of NPR's Books We Love
Named one of Kirkus' Best 2023 Books
Named one of the Washington Post's 10 best graphic novels of 2023
One of TIME Magazine's Must-Read Books of the Year
Shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2024
Booklist Editors' Choice: Graphic Novels, 2023
New York Public Library's Best New Comics of 2023 Top Ten Pick
Chicago Public Library's Best Books of 2023 Top Ten Pick
Named one of School Library Journal's Best Graphic Novels of 2023
Named one of The Guardian's Best Graphic Novels of 2023

Darrin Bell was six years old when his mother told him he couldn't have a realistic water gun. She said she feared for his safety, that police tend to think of little Black boys as older and less innocent than they really are.
In this immersive audiobook adaptation—with wall-to-wall sound design, an expansive music soundtrack, and full-cast narration including the author and his son—Bell uses his sharp humor to examine how The Talk shaped intimate and public moments from childhood to adulthood. While coming of age in Los Angeles—and finding a voice through cartooning—Bell becomes painfully aware of being regarded as dangerous by white teachers, neighbors, and police officers and thus of his mortality. Drawing attention to the brutal murders of African Americans and showcasing revealing insights and cartoons along the way, he brings us up to the moment of reckoning when people took to the streets protesting the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And now Bell must decide whether he and his own six-year-old son are ready to have The Talk.
"In The Talk, Bell combines the overtly personal and the sociopolitical in a textured autobiography that blends raw honestly, moving memories and powerful insights on race and police relations." —The Washington Post
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.

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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from March 27, 2023
      Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist Bell, known for his syndicated strip Candorville, delivers an unflinching debut graphic memoir that balances gravity, vulnerability, and humor in relaying his life as a Black man and parent. When he was a child in 1981, a terrifying standoff with a pair of Dobermans left an indelible imprint that became a metaphor for future racist interactions. Later, after Bell’s white mother prohibited him from playing outside with a water gun, she attempted “the talk,” a conversation between Black parents and their children about living while Black. She cautioned, “White people won’t see you or treat you the way they do little white boys.” When he sneaked out the toy regardless, it resulted in a tense encounter with a police officer who seemed to morph into the dogs. (The episode is drawn to evoke the memory of Tamir Rice, who is listed along with other names in a haunting dedication page memorial.) Indeed, racism pervaded Bell’s life into adulthood: he was bullied, surveilled, and falsely accused of delinquency and plagiarism. His career as a cartoonist is a through line, from childhood drawing to his professional impact that garnered hate mail and swayed public opinion with sometimes devastating consequences. Reckoning with his identity during an ongoing history of racialized violence, Bell recounts how his father’s inability to give “the talk” still haunts him and takes on greater significance when Bell’s own son asks about George Floyd. The narrative, drawn awash in a blue hue, artfully interweaves sepia flashbacks and artifacts of 1980s pop culture (from Mr. Potato Head to Star Trek) highlighted with flashes of color. This emotionally striking work is sure to leave a lasting mark. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell narrates this audio adaptation of his graphic memoir with assists from his son (portraying himself) and two professional actors. Between them, Brittany Bradford and William DeMerrit realize dozens of fully individuated characters: Bell's younger self, along with his parents (an interracial couple), childhood friends, teachers, college classmates, professional colleagues, and even cops and schoolyard bullies. Complemented by thoughtful sound design, they deliver tour-de-force performances that bring to life Bell's dialogue and reveal the critical interactions that formed his identity as a biracial Black man in America. Sadly, Bell's own voice--a little nasal, largely without affect, and untrained in vocal arts--makes for a thin accompaniment. Nonetheless, the power of his story will carry listeners along. V.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • School Library Journal

      Starred review from January 1, 2025

      Gr 10 Up-Each of the four narrators take turns with dedications: "for Breonna Taylor, for Freddie Gray, for Trayvon Martin, for Ahmaud Arbery... for Tamir Rice... for Walter Scott...," building furious speed and overlapping names until their voices merge into a cacophonous, shocking witnessing to Black murder. Those sobering 30 seconds set the tone for Bell's mega-award-winning 2023 graphic memoir, extraordinarily adapted for audio with Bell as primary narrator, his young son as himself, and actors Bradford and DeMerritt creating a significant cast of parents, teachers, friends, colleagues; additional background scoring and archival recordings (featuring political figures, including George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump), chillingly enhance the stupendous production. Bell, who won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning for "beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration," seems urgently relevant with the 2025 return of that administration. VERDICT A significant, immediate necessity for all collections.

      Copyright 2025 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from February 1, 2025

      Cartoonist Bell's (We Eat the Poor) haunting graphic novel about the realities of being Black in the United States comes alive in audio. A full cast, led by the author and including Brittany Bradford, Emyree Zazu Bell (the author's son), and William DeMerrit, offers an immersive listening experience. Bell solemnly recalls a moment in his childhood when his mother allowed him to have a green water gun--not a black one, for as she cautioned during his first experience of "the talk," the rules are different for Black people. When he sneaked outside with his new water gun, Bell's mother's words were devastatingly realized. The young Bell was harassed by the police (indicated in audio by the chilling sound of barking dogs), setting the stage for future tense interactions. Bell ruefully notes that he couldn't quite believe the reality of racialized violence until he grew older; then, as a parent, he sorrowfully recognized that his son would have to learn this too. Well-timed sound effects evoke the book's illustrations, but it is Bell's voice--somber, measured, and direct--that hits home. VERDICT This thoughtful audio adaptation of Bell's powerful work is not to be missed. A timely production that should be showcased everywhere.--Sarah Hashimoto

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from February 1, 2025

      Supported by his son Emryee Zazu Bell and actors Brittany Bradford and William DeMerrit, cartoonist Bell takes center stage as he narrates this phenomenal version of his 2023 graphic memoir. Archival recordings and pitch-perfect sound effects evoke the book's illustrations as, with a somber and measured tone, Bell reflects on his childhood, his responsibilities as a Black father of a Black son, and the bitter realities of racialized violence in the U.S.

      Copyright 2025 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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