WARRIORS DON'T CRY

The author was one of the Little Rock Nine, the African-American children who were chosen to integrate Central High School for the 1957-58 school year. The book’s title is not an exaggeration. The students attended school that year, but a more accurate word would be that they survived it. Narrator Lisa Renee Pitts takes an earnest approach to the book, imbuing it with the weightiness that a historical event requires. It’s clear that Pitts has vocal training in her background as some of her pronunciations have a decidedly upper-crust sound. She also enunciates every syllable. Her delivery allows us to follow the story, but it also gives her reading a somewhat choppy feel. Pitts does bring passion to the story and makes us feel the immediacy of Beals’s experience. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2012]