THE GOOD LORD BIRD

James McBride’s witty, imaginative take on history has a hero as inventive as Huckleberry Finn and as comical as Little Big Man. After a church fire in the 1960s, a notebook is discovered. It turns out to be the remembrances of Henry Shackleford, a young slave who is mistaken for and passes as a girl in order to survive in Kansas in 1857. Michael Boatman gives an amazing performance as 10-year-old Henry/Henrietta recounts his time with abolitionist John Brown. Boatman takes us on a wild ride, giving an authentic ring to such real characters as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. He masterfully delivers McBride’s wonderful wordplay—from Henry’s wisecracking attitude to John Brown’s Bible-quoting orations. A great story. A great narration. Listening at its finest. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2013]