Audiobooks Narrated by Karen Chilton

Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968

For nine-year-old Lorraine Jackson, the Sanitation Strike of 1968 hit close to home. Lorraine marched with her daddy and other sanitation workers through the streets of Memphis fighting for equal rights and safer working conditions. With her mother, she boycotted stores. Lorraine’s life was forever changed when she heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preach his famous sermon “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” to the tired and frustrated strikers. Dr. King was tragically killed the next day, and hope seemed shattered. But Lorraine, her family, and the people of Memphis pushed through those difficult times, because dreamers never quit. Author Alice Faye Duncan based the character of Lorraine Jackson on a teacher who participated in the Memphis Sanitation Strike as a child. Using a riveting combination of poetry and prose, Alice Faye reveals the inspiring story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final stand for justice.

Alice Faye Duncan (Author), Karen Chilton (Narrator)

Audiobook

Who Was Aretha Franklin?

There is only one QUEEN OF SOUL! Discover why Aretha Franklin garners so much R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Aretha Franklin was a musical and cultural icon whose legacy spanned six decades! Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1942, Aretha got her start singing in front of her father's Baptist congregation and found minor success as a gospel singer. She then set her sights on becoming a pop music artist and used her powerful voice and impressive skills on the piano to get a record deal. Aretha released her first of many celebrated albums at the age of 18. In 1987, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making her the first female artist to grace the prestigious list. With iconic hits such as 'Respect' and 'Think,' and countless awards to her name including eighteen Grammys, Aretha Franklin was one of the bestselling artists of all time.

Nico Medina (Author), Karen Chilton (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Rock Box!: A Who HQ Collection

A ten-audiobook collection dedicated to some of the most famous rock-and-roll artists of all time, from the creators of the #1 New York Times Best-Selling Who Was? series. Learn about the early lives and exciting careers of the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, and Bono. The Rock Box celebrates the musicians who have made us sing along to their songs for decades. With an easy-to-listen-to narrative in each book, readers will enjoy discovering more about the history of the artists that shaped today's music.

Tba (Author), Adenrele Ojo, Daniel Henning, Dominic Hoffman, Fred Sanders, Karen Chilton, Kevin Pariseau, Macleod Andrews, Tatiana Grey, Will Damron (Narrator)

Audiobook

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

African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History

In a richly designed work with maps, portraits, and graphics throughout, the award-winning author of the Jumbies series shows readers this underrepresented side of Black history and Black excellence. Every year, American schoolchildren celebrate Black History Month. They study almost exclusively American stories, which are not only rooted in struggle over enslavement or oppression, but also take in only four hundred years of a rich and thrilling history that goes back many millennia across the African continent. Through portraits of ten historical figures—from Menes, the first ruler to be called Pharaoh, to Queen Idia, a sixteenth-century power broker, visionary, and diplomat—African Icons takes readers on a journey across Africa to meet some of the great leaders and thinkers whose ideas built a continent and shaped our world.

Tracey Baptiste (Author), Karen Chilton, Karne Chilton (Narrator)

Audiobook

All of the Above

We know there's a lot of people out there who think our school is a dead end. And that all the kids inside it are dead ends, too. ... But they've got it all wrong. Just you wait and see! James, Rhondell, Sharice, and Marcel are four inner-city students on a quest to build the world's largest tetrahedron with their math teacher, Mr. Collins. If they succeed, maybe Rhondell will make new friends, Sharice's foster mother may start to care, James will discover something he's good at, and Marcel's dad will finally see that there is more to life than barbecue. Maybe they'll even end up in the Guinness Book of World Records! Weaving together the stories of the kids, their teacher, and the community that surrounds them, award-winning author Shelley Pearsall has written a vividly engaging story about math, life, and the importance of friendship.

Shelley Pearsall (Author), Channie Waites, Chris Henry Coffey, Corey Allen, Karen Chilton, Kevin R. Free, Landon Woodson, Lynette R. Freeman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned a Nation

Based on original reporting by a Pulitzer Prize finalist and an industry veteran, the first book for young adults about the Flint water crisis In 2014, Flint, Michigan, was a cash-strapped city that had been built up, then abandoned by General Motors. As part of a plan to save money, government officials decided that Flint would temporarily switch its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Within months, many residents broke out in rashes. Then it got worse: children stopped growing. Some people were hospitalized with mysterious illnesses; others died. Citizens of Flint protested that the water was dangerous. Despite what seemed so apparent from the murky, foul-smelling liquid pouring from the city's faucets, officials refused to listen. They treated the people of Flint as the problem, not the water, which was actually poisoning thousands. Through interviews with residents and intensive research into legal records and news accounts, journalist Candy J. Cooper, assisted by writer-editor Marc Aronson, reveals the true story of Flint. Poisoned Water shows not just how the crisis unfolded in 2014, but also the history of racism and segregation that led up to it, the beliefs and attitudes that fueled it, and how the people of Flint fought-and are still fighting-for clean water and healthy lives.

Candy J. Cooper, Marc Aronson (Author), Karen Chilton (Narrator)

Audiobook

Just in Case You Want to Fly

The creators of the award-winning When's My Birthday? team up again to create an inspirational book for anyone--parent or child--looking for support when facing a new challenge. just in case you want to fly here's some wind and here's the sky here's a feather here's up high and here's a wing from a butterfly This tender, contemplative picture book is about growing up. It's about parents giving their children the gifts, no matter how quiet or small, to succeed and to navigate the world on their own. And it's about the connection that binds a parent and child...because no matter how far they fly or who they become, they will always have home.

Julie Fogliano (Author), Karen Chilton (Narrator)

Audiobook

All About Madam C.J. Walker

Madam C. J. Walker was beloved within her community for her philanthropy and expanding the local black YMCA, but she couldn't have done that if she weren't the first female self-made millionaire and one of the most successful African American business owners ever. Born Sarah Breedlove, she was the first person born free in her family. She married Charles Joseph Walker and became known as Madam C. J. Walker, the name she would later use on her haircare products. After talking with her brothers, who were barbers, and experiencing problems with hair loss, she developed a formula that healed scalp infections. This inspired her to start her own line of hair care products to do things like reduce dandruff, grow longer hair, smooth hair, or prevent baldness. Her company employed thousands of door-to-door saleswomen from all over the United States and the Caribbean. She supported the African American community by making a $1000 contribution for a new YMCA building in Indianapolis, funding scholarships for Tuskegee Institute and Daytona Normal Institute for Girls, and becoming a patron of the arts in the early years of the Harlem Renaissance.

A'lelia Bundles (Author), Karen Chilton (Narrator)

Audiobook

Armstrong and Charlie

Charlie isn't looking forward to sixth grade. If he starts sixth grade, chances are he'll finish it. And when he does, he'll grow older than the brother he recently lost. Armstrong isn't looking forward to sixth grade, either. When his parents sign him up for Opportunity Busing to a white school in the Hollywood Hills, all he wants to know is "What time in the morning will my alarm clock have the opportunity to ring?" When these two land at the same desk, it's the Rules Boy next to the Rebel, a boy who lost a brother elbow-to-elbow with a boy who longs for one. From September to June, arms will wrestle, fists will fly, and bottles will spin. There'll be Ho Hos spiked with hot sauce, sleepovers, boy talk about girls, and a little guidance from the stars. Set in Los Angeles in the 1970s, Armstrong and Charlie is the hilarious, heartwarming tale of two boys from opposite worlds, Different, yet the same.

Steven B. Frank (Author), Christopher Gebauer, Karen Chilton, Ruffin Prentiss (Narrator)

Audiobook

Tell All the Children Our Story:Memories and Mementos of Being Young and Black in America

The first African men, women, and children in colonial America did not arrive with dreams of freedom or hopes of a new, better life. They arrived after a torturous 90-day journey called the Middle Passage. And they arrived as slaves. Since that time, African-Americans have suffered, triumphed, despaired, and dreamed. Through U.S. history, nowhere are the hopes and fears of the black experience expressed more convincingly than on the faces of black youth. Including excerpts from memoirs and diaries, this scrapbook shows the beauty and diversity of black culture through time-from the penniless to the wealthy, and from those time has forgotten to those whose names will live forever in the pages of history. The author of histories, novels, and self-help books, Tonya Bolden has received multiple awards, including Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. A powerful reading from acclaimed Recorded Books narrators channels the full breadth and scope of Bolden's remarkable work.

Tonya Bolden (Author), Karen Chilton, Kevin R. Free, Myra Lucretia Taylor (Narrator)

Audiobook