Biography & Memoir Audiobooks

I am Oprah Winfrey

Deeply influential cultural icon Oprah Winfrey is the twenty-fifth hero in this New York Times bestselling picture book biography series, adapted for audio. This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great--the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Each book tells the story of an icon in a lively, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction readers and that always includes the hero's childhood influences. This book features critically acclaimed talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who used her struggles in childhood as motivation to become 'Queen of All Media.'

Brad Meltzer (Author), Caroline Mclaughlin, Catherine Ho, Graham Halstead, James Sie, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Karen Chilton, Kevin R. Free, Zoleka Vundla (Narrator)

Audiobook

She Persisted: Margaret Chase Smith

Inspired by the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger comes a chapter book series about women who stood up, spoke up and rose up against the odds--including Margaret Chase Smith! In this chapter book biography by award-winning author Ruby Shamir, readers learn about the amazing life of Margaret Chase Smith--and how she persisted.    Margaret Chase Smith liked to help people, and she knew she could do that as a member of Congress. She became the first woman to serve in both the House and the Senate, where she supported the space program and more opportunities for women. Her hard work and success helped pave the way for generations of women after her to run for office! Complete with an introduction from Chelsea Clinton and a list of ways that listeners can follow in Margaret Chase Smith's footsteps and make a difference!   And don't miss out on the rest of the books in the She Persisted series, featuring so many more women who persisted!   Praise for She Persisted: Margaret Chase Smith:   'Gives readers excellent reasons to remember this pioneering woman politician.' --Kirkus Reviews

Chelsea Clinton, Ruby Shamir (Author), Chelsea Clinton, Keylor Leigh (Narrator)

Audiobook

Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South

As the fight for equal rights continues, Defiant takes a critical look at the strides and struggles of the past in this revelatory and moving memoir about a young Black man growing up in the South during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. For fans of It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime, Stamped, and Brown Girl Dreaming. 'With his compelling memoir, Hudson will inspire young readers to emulate his ideals and accomplishments." -Booklist, Starred Review Born in 1946 in Mansfield, Louisiana, Wade Hudson came of age against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. From their home on Mary Street, his close-knit family watched as the country grappled with desegregation, as the Klan targeted the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and as systemic racism struck across the nation and in their hometown. Amidst it all, Wade was growing up. Getting into scuffles, playing baseball, immersing himself in his church community, and starting to write. Most important, Wade learned how to find his voice and use it. From his family, his community, and his college classmates, Wade learned the importance of fighting for change by confronting the laws and customs that marginalized and demeaned people. This powerful memoir reveals the struggles, joys, love, and ongoing resilience that it took to grow up Black in segregated America, and the lessons that carry over to our fight for a better future.

Wade Hudson (Author), Wade Hudson (Narrator)

Audiobook

The People Remember

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Ibi Zoboi comes her debut book—a tour de force that uses the principles of Kwanzaa to talk about the history of African Americans. The People Remember tells the journey of African descendants in America by connecting their history to the seven principles of Kwanzaa. It begins in Africa, where people were taken from their homes and families. They spoke different languages and had different customs. Yet they were bound and chained together and forced onto ships sailing into an unknown future. Ultimately, all these people had to learn one common language and create a culture that combined their memories of home with new traditions that enabled them to thrive in this new land. This is an important book to read as a family—a story young readers can visit over and over again to deepen their understanding of African American history in relation to their own lives and current social justice movements. By turns powerful and revealing, this is a lyrical narrative that tells the story of survival, as well as the many moments of joy, celebration, and innovation of Black people in America. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Ibi Zoboi (Author), Ibi Zoboi, Robin Miles (Narrator)

Audiobook

Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma

The New York Times bestselling author of Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, Joanna Ho, delivers a poignant biography about the musician Yo-Yo Ma, immigration, and using music to build bridges. “Everyone can benefit from Ho’s message of music bringing calm and peace to the world.” —Booklist  Joanna Ho’s lyrical writing tells an inspiring story of Yo-Yo Ma, who challenges conventions, expectations, and beliefs in order to build bridges to unite communities, people, and cultures. A beautiful biography to enjoy and share in the home and the classroom. Before Yo-Yo Ma became one of the most renowned and celebrated cellists, he wanted to play the double bass. But it was too big for his four-year-old hands. Over time, Ma honed his amazing talent, and his music became a reflection of his own life between borders, cultures, disciplines, and generations. Since then, he has recorded over a hundred albums, won nineteen Grammy Awards, performed for eight American presidents, and received the National Medal of the Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, just to name a few accomplishments. Staying true to himself, Yo-Yo Ma performed at the US-Mexico border at the Rio Grande on April 13, 2019, as part of his multi-continent “Bach Project” tour to prove a point—through music, we can build bridges rather than walls between different cultures.

Joanna Ho (Author), Kevin Shen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Areli Es Una Dreamer (Areli Is a Dreamer Spanish Edition): Una Historia Real por Areli Morales, Bene

En esta edición en español del primer álbum ilustrado escrito por una beneficiaria de DACA -una 'dreamer'- Areli Morales narra su poderosa historia como inmigrante. En la casa de la abuela -en las montañas de México- los sábados estaban llenos de familiares y de mucho sol. Areli era buena jugando al escondite y aún mejor persiguiendo gallinas. Cuando Areli era sólo una bebé, su mamá y su papá se mudaron a Nueva York con su hermano -Alex- en busca de una mejor vida para su familia. Cuando Areli entró a preescolar, enviaron a alguien por ella también. Todo en Nueva York era diferente: grande, rápido y ruidoso. Areli casi no hablaba inglés y sus compañeros la acusaban de ser ilegal. Pero con el paso del tiempo y lentamente, Areli se convirtió en una neoyorquina . . . aún sin ser ciudadana estadounidense. -Aquí podría hacer lo que quisiera -Areli le dijo un día al cielo citadino-. Algún día lo lograré. Ésta es una conmovedora historia -que evoca la de millones de inmigrantes que son parte íntegra de nuestro país- acerca de una niña que vive en dos mundos, una niña cuya solicitud de DACA fue eventualmente aprobada y que ahora vive el sueño americano. In the first picture book written by a DACA dreamer Areli Morales tells her own powerful and vibrant immigration story in this Spanish translation companion book. When Areli was just a baby, her mama and papa moved from Mexico to New York with her brother, Alex, to make a better life for the family--and when she was in kindergarten, they sent for her, too. Everything in New York was different. Gone were the Saturdays at Abuela's house, filled with cousins and sunshine. Instead, things were busy and fast and noisy. Areli's limited English came out wrong, and schoolmates accused her of being illegal. But time passed, and Areli slowly became a New Yorker--although not an American citizen. 'I could do anything here,' Areli says one day to the city sky. 'Someday, I will.' This is a moving story--one that resonates with millions of immigrants who make up the fabric of our country--about one girl living in two worlds, a girl whose DACA application was eventually approved and who is now living her American dream.

Areli Morales (Author), Areli Morales (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Suffragist Playbook: Your Guide to Changing the World

Do you have a cause you’re passionate about? Take a few tips from the suffragists, who led one of the largest, longest, and least well-known movements in American history. The women’s suffrage movement was decades in the making and came with many harsh setbacks. But it resulted in a permanent victory: women’s right to vote. How did the suffragists do it? One hundred years later, an eye-opening look at their playbook shows that some of their strategies seem oddly familiar. Women’s marches at inauguration time? Check. Publicity stunts, optics, and influencers? They practically invented them. Petitions, lobbying, speeches, raising money, and writing articles? All of that, too. From moments of inspiration to some of the movement’s darker aspects—including the racism of some suffragist leaders, violence against picketers, and hunger strikes in jail—this clear-eyed view takes in the role of key figures: Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard, Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, and many more. Engagingly narrated by Lucinda Robb and Rebecca Boggs Roberts, whose friendship goes back generations (to their grandmothers, Lady Bird Johnson and Lindy Boggs, and their mothers, Lynda Robb and Cokie Roberts), this unique melding of seminal history and smart tactics is sure to capture the attention of activists-in-the-making today.

Lucinda Robb, Rebecca Boggs Roberts (Author), Tovah Ott (Narrator)

Audiobook

Zora and Me: The Summoner

In the finale to the acclaimed trilogy, upheaval in Zora Neale Hurston’s family and hometown persuade her to leave childhood behind and find her destiny beyond Eatonville. For Carrie and her best friend, Zora, Eatonville—America’s first incorporated Black township—has been an idyllic place to live out their childhoods. But when a lynch mob crosses the town’s border to pursue a fugitive and a grave robbery resuscitates the ugly sins of the past, the safe ground beneath them seems to shift. Not only has Zora’s own father—the showboating preacher John Hurston—decided to run against the town’s trusted mayor, but there are other unsettling things afoot, including a heartbreaking family loss, a friend’s sudden illness, and the suggestion of voodoo and zombie-ism in the air, which a curious and grieving Zora becomes all too willing to entertain. In this fictionalized tale, award-winning author Victoria Bond explores the end of childhood and the bittersweet goodbye to Eatonville by preeminent author Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960). In so doing, she brings to a satisfying conclusion the story begun in the award-winning Zora and Me and its sequel, Zora and Me: The Cursed Ground, sparking inquisitive readers to explore Hurston’s own seminal work.

Victoria Bond (Author), Channie Waites (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Constitution of India for Children

Every 26th January, people gather on New Delhi's Rajpath amidst a colourful jamboree of fluttering flags, marching soldiers and dancing children. What is celebrated on this day is at the heart of our democracy-the magnificent Constitution of India. The document didn't only lay down the law but united India with a vision that took two years, eleven months and seventeen days to realise. Subhadra Sen Gupta captures the many momentous occasions in Indian history that led to its making in The Constitution of India for Children. Populated with facts and dotted with cheerful illustrations, this book provides answers to innumerable questions asked over the years. Which language is our Constitution written in? Were women a part of the team that drafted the Constitution? Why do political parties have symbols next to their names? What is the official language of India? An essential handbook for every student and denizen of India, here is a compendium of knowledge that serves as an insightful introduction to the most important document of Independent India.

Subhadra Sen Gupta (Author), Pallavi Bharti (Narrator)

Audiobook

Niña morena sueña

National Book Award Winner Coretta Scott King Award Winner Newbery Honor Book Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor Book ¿Qué significa crecer en dos lugares y no pertenecer completamente a ninguno? Jacqueline Woodson creció entre Carolina del Sur y Nueva York y siempre se sintió a medias en ambos. Estos poemas, conmovedores y poderosos, lo reflejan; así como reflejan la experiencia de ser una niña afroamericana en las décadas de 1960 y 1970, de una infancia vivida entre los residuos de las leyes de Jim Crow, de su aprendizaje constante sobre el movimiento de derechos civiles. Cada verso es una mirada al alma de alguien que, desde muy pequeña, busca su lugar en el mundo. Tal vez lo encontró en su propia voz al escribir. La elocuente poesía de Woodson es tambiénuna celebración de la escritura pues, a pesar de que tuvo dificultades con la lectura cuando era niña, su amor por las historias inspiró las primeras chispas de la talentosa escritora que es hoy. Este libro es resultado de eso. Es el universo de una niña morena que, contra todo y contra todos, se atrevió a soñar.

Jacqueline Woodson (Author), Laura Acosta (Narrator)

Audiobook

De niñas, disfraces y un soneto: La infancia de sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Seguro que has escuchado hablar de sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, pero ¿sabes cómo se convirtió en la Décima Musa? En una hacienda a la falda de los volcanes, Juana Inés vive con su entrañable abuelo, su madre y su querida hermana Josefa, rodeada de libros y siempre acompañada por su perro xoloitzcuintle. Pronto Juana Inés se enamora del maravilloso mundo que se esconde detrás de las letras y, al pie de la pintura de la virreina, escribe los más hermosos poemas. Descubre cómo fue la niñez de sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, ¡la poeta más destacada que dejó Nueva España!

Mario Iván Martínez (Author), Mario Iván Martínez (Narrator)

Audiobook

¡Vamos! Let's Cross the Bridge

People are always crossing the bridge for work, to visit family, or for play. Some going this way; others going that way. Back and forth they go. With friends on foot and in bicycles, in cars and trucks, the bridge is an incredibly busy place with many different types of vehicles. Little Lobo and his dog Bernabé have a new truck and they are using it to carry party supplies over the bridge with their pals El Toro and La Oink Oink. The line is long and everyone on the bridge is stuck. How will they pass the time? Eventually, everyone comes together for an epic party on the bridge between two different countries. Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go gets a Mexican-American makeover in this joyful story about coming together.

Raúl The Third (Author), Gary Tiedemann (Narrator)

Audiobook