Shards of Silence

Name: Shards of Silence
Brand: Harper Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Brian Lee Young
ISBN: 9780063229112

Author: Brian Lee Young

Narrator: Shaun Taylor-Corbett

Unabridged: 8 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Heartdrum

Published: 05/05/2026

Categories: Young Adult Fiction, Indigenous Fiction, School & Education

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

In his first YA novel, award-winning author Brian Lee Young (Diné) bridges the generational divide between a Navajo teen at an elite prep school and his great-grandmother’s experience at a federal boarding school for Indigenous students. The book is an eye-opening call for community healing and a profound coming-of-age story. Even if it hurts to leave behind his friends and family in Navajo, New Mexico—especially his great-grandmother, Mildred—Derrick knows his scholarship to an elite East Coast boarding school is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.Sagefield Academy is totally different from life on the rez: His new classmates vacation in Europe and take study drugs. Derrick wants to stick to caffeine, but handling sports, school, and a twenty-page term paper, all while dodging comments about his hair and heritage, feels straight-up impossible.Back home, Másání Mildred’s health is fading quickly. On the phone, she begs Derrick to leave Sagefield. When he realizes her fear comes from her time in federal Native boarding schools, he knows he’s finally found the term paper theme he believes in: carrying her voice into the future.Derrick will need to shatter a steadfast generational silence to untangle his great-grandmother’s memories--though her story might change him, and his family, forever.Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

About Brian Lee Young

Author and filmmaker Brian Lee Young is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. He grew up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Brian earned his BA in film studies at Yale University and his MFA in creative writing at Columbia University. His debut middle grade novels, Healer of the Water Monster and Heroes of the Water Monster, were American Indian Youth Literature Award winner and honor books respectively. Brian currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Misty on December 11, 2025

4.5 stars rounded up. I really enjoyed the premise of this book and loved that the author was able to pull from his own experiences of attending an elite boarding school, something I could not have envisioned prior to read this book. The main character, Derrick, is the perfect high school kid who do......more

Goodreads review by KMart on May 10, 2026

This is such a special story. The title says so much. The weight of staying silent when people make thoughtless comments about your community's trauma, the cost of holding devastating history inside rather than speaking it (because it's exhausting to teach others instead of them doing a little resea......more

Goodreads review by Leah on March 25, 2026

Shards of Silence is an eye-opening coming-of-age story that is a must-read. Based on his real life experiences, author Brian Lee Young (Diné) tells the story of a Navajo teen who is sent to an elite out of state prep school, and the challenges he faces there. Derrick has been given the once-in-a-li......more

Goodreads review by Carling on December 19, 2025

Thank you to Heartdrum, Harper Collins, Netgallery, and Brian Lee Young for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. Synopsis: Derrick, a young Navajo teen, is awarded a scholarship to attend a renowned boarding school hundreds of miles from the rez and his family. There, Derrick tries attempts......more

Goodreads review by Crystal on April 13, 2026

Derrick is leaving his family and friends behind in New Mexico for a fancy education at a boarding school in New England. This opportunity is more than a little triggering for his great grandmother who was taking from her family as a child and placed in a Native boarding school. This reaction, and a......more