DEAR AMERICA: WITH THE MIGHT OF ANGELS

When 12-year-old Dawnie Rae receives a “diary book” for her birthday in June 1954, she eagerly undertakes documenting her life as a future doctor, devotee of Jackie Robinson, and the first student of color at Prettyman Coburn School in Hadley, Virginia. Dawnie’s daily entries bring stark reality to the issue of school integration. Narrator Channie Waites gives immediacy to Dawnie’s life. Waites radiates exuberance as Dawnie dreams of her future; delivers steely voices during each racial confrontation, whether in the science lab or on the front lawn; rails with Dawnie's exasperation at her autistic younger brother, and provides a tone of spunk for Dawnie’s friend, Gertie. In the narrator role, Waites’s words move the story fluidly from episode to episode. Notes on school integration and a chapter in which the author shares her personal experiences relating to integration complete the production. A.R. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2011]