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Admissions
- A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School
- Narrated by: Mela Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
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Publisher's summary
A sharp-witted and deeply insightful look into the storied world of elite prep schools from the first African American legacy student to graduate from the Taft School.
Early on in Kendra James’ professional life, she began to feel like she was selling a lie. As an admissions officer specializing in diversity recruitment for independent prep schools, she persuaded students and families to embark on the same perilous journey she herself had made - to attend cutthroat and largely White schools similar to the Taft School, where she had been the first African American legacy student only a few years earlier. Her new job forced her to reflect on her own elite education experience and to realize how disillusioned she had become with America’s inequitable system.
In Admissions, Kendra looks back at the three years she spent at Taft, chronicling clashes with her lily-White roommate, how she had to unlearn the respectability politics she'd been raised with, and the fallout from a horrifying article in the student newspaper that accused Black and Latinx students of being responsible for segregation of campus. Through these stories, some troubling, others hilarious, she deconstructs the lies and half truths she herself would later tell as an admissions professional, in addition to the myths about boarding schools perpetuated by popular culture.
With its combination of incisive social critique and uproarious depictions of elite nonsense, Admissions will resonate with anyone who has ever been The Only One in a room, dealt with racial microaggressions, or even just suffered from an extreme case of homesickness.
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Critic reviews
"What an extraordinary, razor-sharp book! Kendra James offers a gimlet-eyed insider’s view of being an outsider, painting the complicated world of elite schooling with such vividness and dark humor. This is a crucial account for our moment - asking and answering the question of how power is held, shifted, and grasped after by even the youngest in our society. I raced through the pages of Admissions, hungry for James’s voice and brilliant insights. The schooling she writes about may have been exclusive, but this book will electrify every reader." (R. Eric Thomas, best-selling author of Here for It)
“Through frequent pop culture allusions and a dry sense of humor, Kendra James reveals a world largely unexamined - the life of an American Black girl at a prestigious boarding school. Readers will shake their heads at young Kendra’s nerdy naïveté and frown at her classmates’ bigotry and bullying. As Kendra discovers the fallout of her own parents’ respectability politics and intraracial biases, she also learns more about her own identity and how she wants to navigate her life. Kendra James’ honest reflections as she looks back on what it means to be Not Like the Others will leave readers thinking about their own experiences with privilege and marginalization. Admissions is a captivating memoir, highlighting the complicated notions of upward mobility, belonging, entitlement, and community. Kendra has written a true eye-opener.” (Nichole Perkins, author of Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be)
"Admissions is a memoir of the highest caliber." (Bitch Media)
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True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history finals, and have politicians, doctors, and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges listeners into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they’ll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who’s never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school’s golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the hearing headmistress.
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A good story with added features both intriguing and informational
- By A Signing Mom on 05-15-22
By: Sara Novic
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Small Admissions
- A Novel
- By: Amy Poeppel
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Despite her innate ambition and summa cum laude smarts, Kate Pearson has turned into a major slacker. After being dumped by her handsome French "almost fiancé", she abandons her grad school plans and spends her days lolling on the couch, leaving her apartment only when a dog-walking gig demands it. Her friends don't know what to do other than pass tissues and hope for a comeback while her practical sister, Angela, pushes every remedy she can think of, from trapeze class to therapy to job interviews.
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For fans of "Where'd You Go, Bernadette ?"
- By RueRue on 01-16-17
By: Amy Poeppel
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The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
- By: Ben Philippe
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Norris is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A Black French Canadian, he knows from watching American sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well when you are moving to Texas. Plunked into a new high school, Norris finds himself cataloging everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Making a ton of friends has never been a priority for him, and this way he can at least amuse himself until it’s time to go back to Canada, where he belongs. Yet those labels soon become actual people to Norris....
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Heartwarming...but profuse profanity.
- By Dajah B. on 01-28-19
By: Ben Philippe
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Ginger Kid
- Mostly True Tales from a Former Nerd
- By: Steve Hofstetter
- Narrated by: Steve Hofstetter
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In Ginger Kid, popular comedian Steve Hofstetter grapples with life after seventh grade...when his world fell apart. Formatted as a series of personal essays, Steve walks his listeners through awkward early dating, family turbulence, and the revenge of the bullied nerds. This YA nonfiction is sure to be the beloved next volume for the first generation of Wimpy Kid fans who are all grown up and ready for a new misfit hero.
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Loved it.
- By Justin on 06-28-18
By: Steve Hofstetter
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Before I Had the Words
- On Being a Transgender Young Adult
- By: Skylar Kergil
- Narrated by: Skylar Kergil
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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At the beginning of his physical transition from female to male, then-17-year-old Skylar Kergil posted his first video on YouTube. In the months and years that followed, he recorded weekly update videos about the physical and emotional changes he experienced. Skylar’s openness and positivity attracted thousands of viewers, who followed along as his voice deepened and his body changed shape. Through surgeries and recovery, highs and lows, from high school to college to the real world, Skylar welcomed others on his journey.
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So grateful to help me as grandma
- By Lisa Bridges on 11-11-20
By: Skylar Kergil
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Life, Animated
- A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: Ron Suskind
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the real-life story of Owen Suskind, the son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind and his wife, Cornelia. An autistic boy who couldn't speak for years, Owen memorized dozens of Disney movies, turned them into a language to express love and loss, kinship, brotherhood. The family was forced to become animated characters, communicating with him in Disney dialogue and song; until they all emerge, together, revealing how, in darkness, we all literally need stories to survive.
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Life, Animated ... is Love, Animated *****
- By Tom T. Rumble on 04-12-14
By: Ron Suskind
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The Priority List
- A Teacher's Final Quest to Discover Life's Greatest Lessons
- By: David Menasche
- Narrated by: David Menasche
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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David Menasche lived for his work as a high school English teacher. His passion inspired his students, and between lessons on Shakespeare and sentence structure, he forged a unique bond with his kids, buoying them through personal struggles while sharing valuable life lessons.
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Truly Inspiring!!
- By Trish on 07-13-14
By: David Menasche
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Born Bright
- A Young Girl's Journey from Nothing to Something in America
- By: C. Nicole Mason
- Narrated by: Robin Eller
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Born Bright, C. Nicole Mason's powerful memoir, is a story of reconciliation, constrained choices, and life on the other side of the tracks. Born in the 1970s in Los Angeles, California, Mason was raised by a beautiful but volatile 16-year-old single mother. Early on, she learned to navigate between an unpredictable home life and school, where she excelled. By high school, Mason was seamlessly straddling two worlds.
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Solid Book
- By Daryl on 11-06-16
By: C. Nicole Mason
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By the Book
- A Novel
- By: Julia Sonneborn
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Anne Corey is about to get schooled. An English professor in California, she's determined to score a position on the coveted tenure track at her college. All she's got to do is get a book deal, snag a promotion, and boom! She's in. But then Adam Martinez - her first love and ex-fiancé - shows up as the college's new president. Funny, smart, and full of heart, this modern ode to Jane Austen's classic Persuasion explores what happens when we run into the demons of our past...and when they turn out not to be so bad, after all.
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Disappointing
- By Dr. DonnaJeanne on 03-07-18
By: Julia Sonneborn
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The Quilter's Apprentice
- Elm Creek Quilts, Book 1
- By: Jennifer Chiaverini
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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An engaging tale full of warmth and wisdom, The Quilter’s Apprentice is the first novel in best-selling author Jennifer Chiaverini’s Elm Creek Quilts series. Sarah McClure takes a job helping elderly Sylvia Compson prepare her family estate for sale. Sylvia, a master quilter, agrees to share the tricks of the trade with Sarah. As the two women grow close, Sylvia shares her family’s tragic past, compelling Sarah to look at her own life more closely.
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A Mixed Bag
- By Potato Potato on 09-19-13
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She Memes Well
- By: Quinta Brunson
- Narrated by: Quinta Brunson
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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From comedian Quinta Brunson (creator and star of Abbott Elementary) comes a deeply personal and funny collection of essays about trying to make it when you're struggling, the importance of staying true to your roots, and how she's redefined humor online. In her debut essay collection, Quinta applies her trademark humor and heart to discuss what it was like to go from a girl who loved the World Wide Web to a girl whose face launched a thousand memes. This special Audible edition includes never-before-heard details about the making of Abbott Elementary.
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That moment you know you’re a TEACHER…
- By chrissybrown on 09-19-22
By: Quinta Brunson
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The Wrong End of the Table
- A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit In
- By: Ayser Salman, Reza Aslan - foreword
- Narrated by: Ayser Salman, Assaf Cohen
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Part memoir and part how-not-to guide, The Wrong End of the Table is everything you wanted to know about Arabs but were afraid to ask, with chapters such as “Tattoos and Other National Security Risks,” “You Can’t Blame Everything on Your Period; Sometimes You’re Going to Be a Crazy Bitch: and Other Advice from Mom,” and even an open letter to Trump. This is the story of every American outsider on a path to find themselves in a country of beautiful diversity.
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Not what I was looking for
- By Amazon Customer on 09-01-22
By: Ayser Salman, and others
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Schadenfreude, a Love Story
- Me, the Germans, and 20 Years of Attempted Transformations, Unfortunate Miscommunications, and Humiliating Situations That Only They Have Words For
- By: Rebecca Schuman
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Schadenfreude is the story of a teenage Jewish intellectual who falls in love - in love with a boy (who breaks her heart), a language (that's nearly impossible to master), a culture (that's nihilistic but punctual), and a landscape (that's breathtaking when there's not a wall in the way). Rebecca is an everyday, misunderstood '90s teenager with a passion for Pearl Jam and Ethan Hawke circa Reality Bites until two men walk into her high school civics class: Dylan Gellner and Franz Kafka, hitching a ride in Dylan's backpack.
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A humorous, delectable read
- By Amazon Customer on 07-13-17
By: Rebecca Schuman
What listeners say about Admissions
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- Sarah F
- 10-25-22
Listened practically straight through
As a white prep school fac-brat myself, I’ve spent years detangling the web of lies about intelligence, fairness and diversity I was indoctrinated into. While I’ve had many heated arguments with friends about how they should NOT put their children through this same system, now this book is a fantastic resource I can point them to. Told in a compelling, page turner type of way, with insight & clarity, I am deeply grateful to the author for writing about a time a lot of us would rather forget entirely.
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- MJ
- 07-19-23
A story that needed to be told
As a black woman whose time at a New England boarding school overlapped with Kendra’s, I was spellbound reading this book. This triggered core memories and emotions for me that I haven’t tapped into in decades, and even put words to feelings that I could never quite describe before.
There was so much shock, confusion, and trauma in my 4yrs at boarding school that I was not prepared for at all, but it was such a niche experience and one that people still see as a ‘privilege’ for me that it’s been hard to put to words and layout in the context of race politics as they’ve evolved today.
Thank you Kendra for sharing your story. You’ve helped me heal in my mid-30s in ways I wish I could have decades ago.
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- Morningperson
- 03-25-22
An Important Story
I am a Taftie, class of ‘76, the fourth year in the school’s history that girls were part of the student body. I arrived there as an upper mid from having been at the Dalton School from 3rd through 10th grade. I am Jewish, so was somewhat of a minority in that sense in the prep school world, (and to my knowledge did not experience anti-semitism there - but maybe I was unaware, as I was of many things at that time) and the first in my family to have ever gone to boarding school. But I had long blond hair and bought Levi corduroys, turtle necks and Wallaby shoes (popular preppie shoes at that time) happy at 16 to superficially adopt the preppie identity. Though I can’t say Taft was a great experience for me socially, never would I have had the experience that Kendra James relates with great authority and urgency in Admissions. I listened to this book, not only because I went to Taft, knew the places and even some of the teachers and administrators she referenced, but because as far as I know, no one else has written about what students of color experience in the prep school world which is, indeed a world unto itself, yet also still a microcosm of the male dominated misogynistic and racist society our America is. Take for instance Ketanji Brown Jackson’s repulsive grilling by GOP Senators which was ironically occurring as I listened to James’ book. As an Upper Mid I wheedled out of taking American History at Taft which was, like its Honor Code a large part of being a Taft student, but now I know how much was left out of those history books and I’m glad I did not get that revisionist history taught to me. This book offers no clear solution to what Kendra James faced as a teenager at this school, but does us a service by bringing attention to the intractable problem that is part of the small elite society of all boarding schools like it, and the larger one we face every day. I will say that the education I received at Dalton and at Taft was a great one - enabling me to think critically which is the best of what an education gives us. Would that we all could receive the same without those who happen not to have white skin having to endure the inequities and daily indignities, injustices, and hurt that so deeply harm the soul, particularly the tender one of a teenager just beginning, as was I, too, at that age, to discover and celebrate her unique identity.
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- Tenille
- 04-30-22
Loved it!
As a military academy graduate, I very much related to this story. I also loved hearing about places in Connecticut that I'm familiar with as a Connecticut resident. This book makes you want to be sure to have different conversations with your African American high school children as they enter certain environments where they may be "the only". It is amazing how Kendra's story, although unique to her, is the same story shared by most African American children in these environments from decades prior to her and will be the same story for decades later. Thank you for capturing our story, Kendra.
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- C. Simmons
- 05-12-22
great listen
An insider peek into the white, elite private boarding school world from an outsider. I walked away liking the author who is a gamer, Lord of the Rings fan girl who I can identify with regardless of race. The book gives voice to experiences for many of us who are people of color that are considered to be on the "inside". But yet feel the barriers to continue to separate us from our classmates and peers.
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- UniversalHealthcareNow!
- 02-02-22
A glimpse into a world little known about
This memoir provides a little glimpse into the world of an elite prep school and details the struggles of a Black woman as she adjusts and comes into her own. I'm glad that this was published, and I look forward to reading more memoir about regular Black folks navigating predominantly white spaces. Her writing of Taft, the boarding school, did not come across as being academically challenging, and I would have loved to have heard more about how prep schools prepare people, academically and socially, for the "real world." I would have also loved to hear more about Mrs. Gallagher and how she came to arrive at Taft.
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- Yoshi
- 01-21-22
A phenomenal and panoramic view of the boarding school experience
Boarding school experiences vary wildly but Kendra’s memoir of her time at Taft strikes chords of familiarity that many will find familiar , especially students of color . From beginning to end I couldn’t stop listening and appreciated seeing Taft through her eyes. A must read for any prospective boarding school student and administrator . Her work is a flaming tower of truth that will live on for generations .
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- Demetrius Walker
- 03-16-22
Captivating Book
As a graduate of the same boarding school the author references, I can say she is spot on in describing sights, scenarios, and situations only someone who has lived this experience could detail. I mostly enjoyed my boarding school experience, but the author raises very valid concerns about the unaddressed and underlying race issues that plague all elite American institutions. This book has forced me to reassess how I can be more instrumental in reaching back to aid boarding school students of color.
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- Elsie
- 03-04-22
Authentic From the Author’s Perspective
Although I did not agree 100% to every story in this book, I wholeheartedly admit and admire this story told wholly from the author’s perspective and will definitely make the reader think holistically about boarding school experience for a POC.
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