Showing results by narrator "Quincy Tyler Bernstine" in All Categories

Two families from different social classes are joined together by an unexpected pregnancy and the child that it produces. Moving forward and backward in time, with the power of poetry and the emotional richness of a narrative 10 times its length, Jacqueline Woodson's extraordinary new novel uncovers the role that history and community have played in the experiences, decisions, and relationships of these families, and in the life of this child.

No story has captured the magic and sense of possibility of the first snowfall better than The Snowy Day. Universal in its appeal, the story has become a favorite of millions, as it reveals a child's wonder at a new world, and the hope of capturing and keeping that wonder forever. The adventures of a little boy in the city on a very snowy day.

Caren Gray manages Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation that sits between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the past and the present coexist uneasily. The estate's owners have turned the place into an eerie tourist attraction, complete with full-dress re-enactments and carefully restored slave quarters. Outside the gates, a corporation with ambitious plans has been busy snapping up land from struggling families who have been growing sugar cane for generations, and now replacing local employees with illegal laborers. Tensions mount when the body of a female migrant worker is found in a shallow grave on the edge of the property.

Tawawa House in many respects is like any other American resort before the Civil War. Situated in Ohio, this idyllic retreat is particularly nice in the summer when the Southern humidity is too much to bear. The main building, with its luxurious finishes, is loftier than the white cottages that flank it, but the smaller structures are better positioned to catch any breeze that may come off the pond. And they provide more privacy, which best suits the needs of the Southern white men who vacation there every summer.

Genna is a 15-year-old girl who wants out of her tough Brooklyn neighborhood. But she gets more than she bargained for when a wish gone awry transports her back in time. Facing the perilous realities of Civil War-era Brooklyn, Genna must use all her wits to survive. In the tradition of Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, A Wish After Midnight is the affecting and inspiring tale of a fearless young woman’s fight to hold on to her individuality and her humanity in two different worlds.

Who controls our stories? Christopher Chen’s expectation-defying new play takes an unpredictable trip into the ways storytelling can reshape what we believe about ourselves and others. The play starts with a series of intriguing and seemingly unconnected creative conversations. It then takes a sharp turn when Sylvia - host of the popular interview program, Art Beat - goes missing and her listeners are left to wonder, is this also an art piece? The journey continues and the mysteries multiply in this mind-bending audio play that investigates the very nature of reality.

Since it was first published in 1964, Whistle for Willie has delighted millions with the story of Peter, who longs to whistle for his dog.

It’s one single steamy July day at the West 4th Street Court in New York City, otherwise known as the Cage. Hotshot baller ESPN is wooing the scouts, Boo is struggling to guard the weird new guy named Waco, a Spike Lee wannabe has video rolling, and virgin Irene is sizing up six-foot-eight-and-a-half-inch-tall Chester. Nine of young-adult literature’s top writers reveal how it all goes down in this searing novel in short stories that each ingeniously pick up where the last one ends.

Jeremy notices that everyone sees him differently: to his sister, he’s a little brother; to his teacher, he’s a writer; to his mother, he’s a dreamer. With hip-hop verse that resonates with urban verve, this extraordinary tribute to oneself will resonate with children and adults of all ages and backgrounds.

Emily Raboteau’s Searching for Zion takes listeners around the world on an unexpected adventure of faith. Both one woman’s quest for a place to call "home" and an investigation into a people’s search for the promised land, this landmark work is a trenchant inquiry into contemporary and historical ethnic displacement.

Kizzy Ann Stamps is starting at a new school, the just-integrated public school, and she’s worried. She’s worried that the white students won’t like her, and she’s worried they’ll stare at the scar that runs from the tip of her right eye to the corner of her smile - the scar a neighbor boy gave her, in a farming accident. But now this same boy won’t stop following Kizzy and Shag, her beloved border collie, everywhere they go - even when they’re practicing for an upcoming herding competition. And though Kizzy and Shag have been training hard, Kizzy and her coach aren’t sure they’ll even let her, a black girl, enter the competition.

It is 1917 in the South Dakota Badlands, and summer has been hard. Fourteen years have passed since Rachel and Isaac DuPree left Chicago to stake a claim in this unforgiving land. Isaac, a former Buffalo Soldier, is fiercely proud: black families are rare in the West, and black ranchers even rarer. But it hasn’t rained in months, the cattle bellow with thirst and supplies are dwindling. Pregnant and struggling to feed her family, Rachel is isolated by more than just geography.