Best Shayna Small Audiobooks

The best audiobooks narrated by Shayna Small — 5 titles spanning Literature & Fiction, Thriller, averaging 3.82 ABR stars.

Shayna Small has become a go-to voice for contemporary Black fiction, particularly the kind that pulses with urgency and cultural specificity. She's part of the celebrated ensemble behind both Blackout and Whiteout — the multi-author YA anthologies featuring Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Dhonielle Clayton, and others — where her warm, expressive delivery holds its own alongside a roster of heavy hitters. Her work on Boom Town shows she can anchor a full narrative solo, bringing the same grounded energy to Stone's prose. The standout in her catalog may be The Amen Corner — James Baldwin's play demands emotional precision and a feel for cadence, and Small delivers. Listeners who love fiction rooted in Black American experience, especially stories with strong female voices and emotional directness, will find her narration feels like it was written for exactly the way she reads it.

Where to Start with Shayna Small

  1. 1
    Summary and Analysis of The Vanishing Half cover

    Summary and Analysis of The Vanishing Half

    by Book Tigers

    Narrated by Shayna Small

    ★ 4.07 ABR Score (26.5K ratings)
    ★ 3.58 Goodreads (38) ★ 4.44 Audible (26.4K)
    11h 34m listening time • Released 2020
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  2. 2
    Preacher's Frenzy cover
    Listen Free on Audible
  3. 3
    Whiteout cover

    Whiteout

    Blackout • Book 2

    by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon

    Narrated by Danielle Shemaiah, Nic Stone, Shayna Small, Bahni Turpin, Alaska Jackson, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Kevin R. Free, James Fouhey, Korey Jackson

    ★ 3.77 ABR Score (7.2K ratings)
    ★ 3.6 Goodreads (7.2K) ★ 4.46 Audible (78)
    7h 17m listening time • Released 2022

    Multiple narrators each voicing their own character make this snowy Atlanta romance feel like eavesdropping on real conversations between friends, turning an ensemble story into something genuinely intimate.

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  4. 4
    Boom Town cover

    Boom Town

    by Nic Stone

    Narrated by Ariel Blake, Angel Pean, Shayna Small, Bahni Turpin, Nic Stone

    ★ 3.75 ABR Score (3.0K ratings)
    ★ 3.44 Goodreads (3.0K) ★ 4.2 Audible (61)
    7h 24m listening time • Released 2025

    A gritty Atlanta thriller with five narrators who bring distinct voices to a morally complex cast—the ensemble performance transforms what could be pulpy into genuinely unsettling.

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  5. 5
    The Amen Corner cover

    The Amen Corner

    by James Baldwin

    Narrated by Myra Lucretia Taylor, Dion Graham, January LaVoy, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Janina Edwards, Aaron Goodson, Angel Pean, Shayna Small, Robin Miles, Dominic Hoffman, JD Jackson, Adenrele Ojo

    ★ 3.68 ABR Score (1.1K ratings)
    ★ 3.95 Goodreads (1.1K) ★ 5 Audible (4)
    2h 48m listening time • Released 2024

    Baldwin's searing play about faith and hypocrisy hits harder with a full cast bringing Harlem's church voices to life. The ensemble narration transforms a intimate family reckoning into something visceral and communal.

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Browse Related Lists

Shayna Small — Narrator Profile Scott Brick Ray Porter Adam Verner Abby Craden Michael Kramer Maxine Mitchell Grover Gardner George Guidall Dick Hill Nora Achrati Luke Daniels Simon Vance Barrie Kreinik Bahni Turpin R.C. Bray Robertson Dean January LaVoy Simon Prebble Edoardo Ballerini Travis Baldree Nick Podehl Tim Gerard Reynolds Julia Whelan Andrea Parsneau Davina Porter Best Fantasy Best Sci-Fi Best Thriller Best Mystery Best Horror Best Literature & Fiction

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →