Orphan Eleven combines historical events and a timeless theme to craft an engrossing story of orphans running away to join the circus! Orphan Eleven by Gennifer Chodenko. Random House (Wendy Lamb), 2020, 302 pages including author note. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 “None of us gets long on this lush and lovely planet. Don’t relinquish any of your precious life to whoever it is who has hurt you.” At eleven years old, Lucy Sauve has seen a lot of hurt. She barely remembers her deceased papa, and then Mama married a man who talked a better game than he played. When Mama contracted TB, Lucy…

What happens when Newbery award winners (and honors) are read aloud by skillful narrators? The books truly come alive. Audiobooks also bring diverse settings and multicultural characters to life. Listening to the books below is a superior experience than merely reading them on your own, particularly if you live in a different place than the main characters. All of the following titles are available via Overdrive. Not all libraries carry the same Overdrive titles, but none of these are “audible exclusives.” They should be relatively easy to track down and are free with your library card–even if your library is closed or you are out of town! *indicates a starred…

Box is the remarkable true story of one man’s bold plan to free himself from slavery. Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood. Candlewick, 2020, 56 pages. Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 10-up I was a slave because my countrymen had made it lawful, in utter contempt of the declared will of heaven, for the strong to lay hold of the weak and to buy and sell them as marketable goods.From Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, quoted in Box. When he finally had the opportunity to write his autobiography, Henry Brown had already overcome near-impossible…

During the months of lockdown, I babysat for a toddler with a growing vocabulary and a love for books. Monday through Friday, I would arrive at her house bearing a bag of books, and soon she began saying a new word, “Alfie!” I had many books, including several children’s bibles.  But what word did she say, and what author did she constantly return to?  Alfie.   So day by day, I read Alfie.  (Though not all Alfie . . . Shirley Hughes’ simpler books and poetry collections were included in the word.)  And as I did, I marveled at the ability of Shirley Hughes to create stories. An Author Who…