
The First State of Being
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Narrated by:
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Ramon de Ocampo
About this listen
WINNER OF THE NEWBERY MEDAL
A FINALIST FOR THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
Chicago Public Library Best Fiction for Older Readers of 2024
Shelf Awareness Best Books of 2024 for Kids and Teens
BookPage Best Middle Grade of 2024
Common Sense Media Best Books of 2024
2025 Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable List
When twelve-year-old Michael Rosario meets a mysterious boy from the future, his life is changed forever. From bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly, also the winner of the Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe and a Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space, this novel explores themes of family, friendship, trust, and forgiveness. The First State of Being is for fans of Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me.
It's August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever—except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his sixteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby.
It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and bold, things Michael wishes he could be. Unlike Michael, however, Ridge isn’t where he belongs. When Ridge reveals that he’s the world’s first time traveler, Michael and Gibby are stunned but curious. As Ridge immerses himself in 1999—fascinated by microwaves, basketballs, and malls—Michael discovers that his new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years, and his curiosity morphs into something else: focused determination. Michael wants—no, needs—to get his hands on that book. How else can he prepare for the future? But how far is he willing to go to get it?
A story of time travel, friendship, found family, and first loves, this thematically rich novel is distinguished by its voice, character development, setting, and exploration of the issues that resonate with middle grade listeners.
Finalist for the National Book Award and Winner of the Newbery Medal.
©2024 Erin Entrada Kelly (P)2024 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Fowl Play
- By: Kristin O'Donnell Tubb
- Narrated by: Jeanne Syquia
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Chloe Alvarez has never been to the reading of a last will and testament before, but she hopes it is just like the movies. Lies! Intrigue! The reading of her Uncle Will’s will is standard, until he announces his gift for Chloe: his African grey parrot, Charlie. Uncle Will was Chloe’s best friend. Without him, she’s left with only her memories of them together—which come to her in snapshots—and her new friend, Charlie. The parrot has a vast vocabulary, and soon Chloe hears her say something odd: It was murder, followed by homicide and cyanide.
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Hello, Universe
- By: Erin Entrada Kelly
- Narrated by: Ramon de Ocampo, Amielynn Abellera
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In one day four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his crazy-about-sports family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and she loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different so that he can concentrate on basketball.
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Who would have thought?
- By Judy A. on 02-18-19
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The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman
- By: Gennifer Choldenko
- Narrated by: Javier Prusky
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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When eleven-year-old Hank’s mom doesn’t come home, he takes care of his toddler sister, Boo, like he always does. But it’s been a week now. They are out of food and mom has never stayed away this long… Hank knows he needs help, so he and Boo seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact. But asking for help has consequences. It means social workers, and a new school, and having to answer questions about his mom that he's been trying to keep secret. And if they can't find his mom soon, Hank and Boo may end up in different foster homes—he could lose everything.
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Gritty and Heartwarming
- By A. Iceberg on 03-21-25
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We Dream of Space
- A Newbery Honor Award Winner
- By: Erin Entrada Kelly
- Narrated by: Ramon de Ocampo
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Cash, who loves basketball but has a newly broken wrist, is in danger of failing seventh grade for the second time. Fitch spends every afternoon playing Major Havoc at the arcade on Main and wrestles with an explosive temper that he doesn’t understand. And Bird, his 12-year-old twin, dreams of being NASA’s first female shuttle commander, but feels like she’s disappearing.
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Worthy of the Newberry
- By Mary on 04-25-21
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Skyriders
- By: Polly Holyoke
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Thirteen-year-old Kiesandra's best friend isn't human, but that doesn't stop her from sharing jokes and secrets with her winged horse, N'Rah. She, like every other person with a skysteed, can communicate with N'Rah through her mind. Their bond is critical when one day, monsters from long ago reemerge to ravage a nearby village. No one knows how to fight the fearsome chimerae except Kie's uncle . . . and now Kie. Injured in the battle, Uncle Dug makes her promise to bring his attack plan and weapons to the capital. Kie reluctantly agrees.
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Amazing Fantasy
- By Karen Reeder on 09-07-24
By: Polly Holyoke
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Kareem Between
- By: Shifa Saltagi Safadi
- Narrated by: Peter Romano
- Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Seventh grade begins, and Kareem’s already fumbled it. His best friend moved away, he messed up his tryout for the football team, and because of his heritage, he was voluntold to show the new kid—a Syrian refugee with a thick and embarrassing accent—around school. Just when Kareem thinks his middle school life has imploded, the hotshot QB promises to get Kareem another tryout for the squad. There’s a catch: to secure that chance, Kareem must do something he knows is wrong.
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Simon Sort of Says
- By: Erin Bow
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Simon O'Keeffe's biggest claim to fame should be the time his dad accidentally gave a squirrel a holy sacrament. Or maybe the alpaca disaster that went viral on YouTube. But the story the whole world wants to tell about Simon is the one he'd do anything to forget: the story in which he's the only kid in his class who survived a school shooting. Two years after the infamous event, twelve-year-old Simon and his family move to the National Quiet Zone—the only place in America where the internet is banned.
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Todays issues
- By Celeste on 01-26-25
By: Erin Bow
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The Deep Dark
- By: Molly Knox Ostertag
- Narrated by: Eva Reign, Elena Rey, Annette Amelia Oliveira, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Magdalena Herrera is about to graduate high school, but she already feels like an adult with serious responsibilities: caring for her ailing grandmother; working a part-time job; clandestine makeouts with a girl who has a boyfriend. And then there's her secret, which pulls her into the basement each night, drains her of energy, and leaves her bleeding. A secret that could hurt and even kill if it ever got out—like it did once before.
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Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .
- A LOVE Story
- By: Jason Reynolds
- Narrated by: Guy Lockard
- Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty-four months ago: Neon gets chased by a dog all around the parking lot of a church. Not his finest moment. And definitely one he would have loved to forget if it weren’t for the dog’s owner: Aria. Dressed in sweats, a t-shirt, hair in a ponytail. Aria. Way more than fine. Twenty-four weeks ago: Neon’s dad insists on talking to him about tenderness and intimacy. Neon and Aria are definitely in love, and while they haven’t taken that next big step…yet, they’ve starting talking about…that.
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Fresh and Refreshing
- By Z. White on 12-04-24
By: Jason Reynolds
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And Then, Boom!
- By: Lisa Fipps
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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A gripping new novel in verse by the author of the Printz Honor-winning Starfish, featuring a poverty-stricken boy who bravely rides out all the storms life keeps throwing at him.
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Great read
- By Kelly Alexander on 12-16-24
By: Lisa Fipps
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Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl
- By: Julie Kagawa
- Narrated by: Stephen Fu
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Shinji Takahashi is just an ordinary kid. An ordinary homeschooled smart-alecky orphan kid being raised by his globe-trotting aunt, Yui. But when a magical guardian decides to use him as a conduit to awaken its power, Shinji's life takes a turn for the anything-but-ordinary. Captured by the menacing Hightower Corporation, which is bent on using the guardian's magic for its own nefarious purposes, Shinji must team up with a brilliant young tech whiz named Lucy and her robot mouse, Tinker, in order to escape.
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Good first book in series
- By jda on 08-07-22
By: Julie Kagawa
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The Lost Year
- A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine
- By: Katherine Marsh
- Narrated by: Anna Fikhman, Christopher Gebauer, Jesse Vilinsky, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Thirteen-year-old Matthew is miserable. His journalist dad is stuck overseas indefinitely, and his mom has moved in his one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother to ride out the pandemic, adding to his stress and isolation. But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past, one that will lead to a life-shattering family secret.
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Excellent work
- By Megan Smith on 03-16-25
By: Katherine Marsh
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Confessions of a Class Clown
- By: Arianne Costner
- Narrated by: Jacob Mcnatt
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet Jack Reynolds. Making people laugh is his life's work. Jack's wacky MyTube channel is really starting to take off. The only problem is, for the truly epic posts, he needs a collaborator. And, well, he doesn't exactly have any friends. So Jack has to swallow his pride and join the new afterschool club, Speed Friendshipping. But who would make the best partner in comedy?
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Hilarious and heartfelt
- By jesp on 03-17-22
By: Arianne Costner
What listeners say about The First State of Being
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Trooston
- 03-02-25
The vision of the world 200 yrs from now
I love all the issues that were brought up. Anxiety, death, positivity, and the idea of First State of Being
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- Kiltubrid
- 02-03-25
Riveting, original plot
A great time-travel story about Ridge, a 15-year-old boy from 2199, obsessed with the history lessons about the 1990s, who travels to a college town in Delaware in a time travel machine invented (but not yet tested) by his mother. There he meets Michael, a shy 12-year-old boy who’s worried about the impending Y2K crisis, and Gibby, his gregarious 16-year-old babysitter. They introduce him to the wonders of the ‘90s — Hot Pockets, Pop Tarts, shopping malls, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and microwave ovens. The well-plotted story about learning to live in the moment (“the first state of being”) is deep and funny by turns, and is perfect for 9-12 year old readers.
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- Massimo
- 02-12-25
the characters were beautiful developed and real
no dislikes. but i must generate enough worda to satisfy the 15 word minimum. one more word to go.
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- pamela miller
- 04-16-24
Great, diverse, very different plot!
This was a really different book, loved the story and the message. It includes a diverse group of characters.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Keller Family
- 03-30-24
Realistic Time Travel!
Great story to listen to on a long car ride. Likable characters, good sci-fy plot. Authentic details from 1999.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mother of 4
- 03-31-25
All great EXCEPT…..
This is apparently not the author for me - see below for information on her other bestseller too.
The story was great except…. I am a teacher reviewing this to use in a 4th grade classroom. I cannot choose it because one of the side characters is listed over and over again as non-binary. I have no interest in throwing this term into the world of 9 and 10 year olds who, in my opinion, don’t need to know it. And, in my opinion, it’s their parents’ choice whether or not, and when or when not, to bring this up with children.
I also started a paperbook copy of the author’s “Hello Universe”. By page 38, one of the characters had used the word retarded or retardo at least 6 times. As a person who teaches students with intellectual disabilities, “normal” students, and gifted students, I find the use of this language (even from a “bully” character) disturbing. Most 9 year olds in my class haven’t heard the term and I certainly don’t want them to start using it.
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