Audiobooks by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Lamb's family strives to better their lives in Jackson, Mississippi, in the late 1930s. Lamb’s mother is a hard-working, creative seamstress who cannot reveal she's a lesbian. Lamb’s brother has a brilliant mind and has even earned a college scholarship for a black college up north—if only he could curb his impulsiveness and rebellious nature. Lamb herself is a quiet and studious girl. She is also naïve. As she tentatively accepts the friendly overtures of a white girl who loans her a book she loves, she sets a off a calamitous series of events that pulls in her mother, charming hustler uncle, estranged father, and brother—and ends in a lynching. Told with nuance and subtlety, avoiding sensationalism and unnecessary brutality, this young-adult novel from celebrated author Lesa Cline-Ransome pays homage to the female victims of white supremacy.

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Angel Pean, Dion Graham, Jaime Lincoln Smith, Kevin R. Free, Rebecca Lee, Tyla Collier (Narrator)

Audiobook

Being Clem

Clem can make anybody, even his grumpy older sisters, smile with his jokes. But when his family receives news that his father has died in the infamous Port Chicago disaster, everything begins to fall apart. Clem's mother is forced to work long, tough hours as a maid for a wealthy white family. Soon Clem can barely recognize his home-and himself. Can he live up to his father's legacy? In her award-winning trilogy, Lesa Cline-Ransome masterfully recreates mid-twentieth century America through the eyes of three boys: Langston, Lymon, and, now, Clem. Exploring the impact of the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, Jim Crow laws, and much more, Lesa's work manages at once to be both an intimate portrait of each boy and his family as well as a landscape of American history.

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Dion Graham (Narrator)

Audiobook

She Persisted Audio Collection: Volume 1: Harriet Tubman; Claudette Colvin; Virginia Apgar; and more

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. Listeners can now enjoy the first eight biographies in one audio collection! • She Persisted: Harriet Tubman by Andrea Davis Pinkney, read by Bahni Turpin • She Persisted: Claudette Colvin by Lesa Cline-Ransome, read by Janina Edwards • She Persisted: Sally Ride by Atia Abawi, read by Carolyn King • She Persisted: Virginia Apgar by Dr. Sayantani DasGupta, read by Tavia Gilbert • She Persisted: Nellie Bly by Michelle Knudsen, read by Rebekkah Ross • She Persisted: Sonia Sotomayor by Meg Medina, read by Frankie Corzo • She Persisted: Florence Griffith Joyner by Rita Williams-Garcia, read by Janina Edwards • She Persisted: Ruby Bridges by Kekla Magoon, read by Janina Edwards In each chapter book biography by an award-winning and/or best-selling author, listeners learn about the amazing life of an important woman--and how she persisted. Includes an introduction written and read by Chelsea Clinton.

Andrea Davis Pinkney, Atia Abawi, Chelsea Clinton, Kekla Magoon, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Meg Medina, Michelle Knudsen, Rita Williams-Garcia, Sayantani Dasgupta (Author), Bahni Turpin, Carolyn King, Janina Edwards, Tavia Gilbert, Various (Narrator)

Audiobook

She Persisted: Claudette Colvin

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! Before Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin made the same choice. She insisted on standing up--or in her case, sitting down--for what was right, and in doing so, fought for equality, fairness, and justice. In this chapter book biography by award-winning author Lesa Cline-Ransome, readers learn about the amazing life of Claudette Colvin--and how she persisted. Complete with an introduction from Chelsea Clinton! Praise for She Persisted: Claudette Colvin: 'Cline-Ransome brings the teen activist to life with great compassion and impressive brevity . . . A noteworthy start for chapter-book readers wishing to read more about young leaders of the movement.' --Kirkus Reviews 'Cline-Ransome's narrative provides a knowledgeable, interesting introduction to an important player in the civil rights movement.' --School Library Journal

Chelsea Clinton, Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Chelsea Clinton, Janina Edwards (Narrator)

Audiobook

Overground Railroad

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Dion Graham, Shayna Small (Narrator)

Audiobook

Leaving Lymon

It's 1946, and Lymon, uprooted from his life in the Deep South and moved up North, needs that chance. Lymon's father is, for the time being, at Parchman Farm-the Mississippi State Penitentiary--and his mother, whom he doesn't remember all that much, has moved North. Fortunately, Lymon is being raised by his loving grandparents. Together, Lymon and his grandpops share a love of music, spending late summer nights playing the guitar. But Lymon's world as he knows it is about to dissolve. He will be sent on a journey to two Northern cities far from the country life he loves-and the version of himself he knows. In this companion novel to the Coretta Scott King Honor-winning Finding Langston, listeners will see a new side of the bully Lymon in this story of an angry boy whose raw talent, resilience, and devotion to music help point him in a new direction.

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Dion Graham (Narrator)

Audiobook

Counting the Stars: The Story of Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician

Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or astronauts walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used their knowledge, pencils, adding machines, and writing paper to calculate the orbital mechanics needed to launch spacecraft. Katherine Johnson was one of these mathematicians who used trajectories and complex equations to chart the space program. Even as Virginia's Jim Crow laws were in place in the early 1950s, Katherine worked analyzing data at the NACA (later NASA) Langley laboratory. In 1962, as NASA prepared for the orbital mission of John Glenn, Katherine Johnson was called upon, and John Glenn said "get the girl" (Katherine Johnson) to run the numbers by hand to chart the complexity of the orbital flight. He knew that his flight couldn't work without her unique skills. President Barack Obama awarded Katherine Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, and her incredible life inspired the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures.

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

Audiobook

Before She Was Harriet

Throughout her lifetime Harriet Tubman was known by many names -- as General Tubman she was a Union spy, as Moses she led hundreds to freedom on the Underground Railroad and as Minty she was a spirited slave. The reverse-chronological approach to the details of her life unfolds through memorable verse and lavish illustrations in this unique, evocative biography of an American icon.

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Bahni Turpin, January Lavoy, Lisa Renee Pitts, Sisi Aisha Johnson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Finding Langston

When eleven-year-old Langston's mother dies in 1946, he and his father leave rural Alabama for Chicago's brown belt as a part of what came to be known as the Great Migration. It's lonely in the small apartment with just the two of them, and Langston is bullied at school. But his new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the local public library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston, a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Dion Graham (Narrator)

Audiobook

Just a Lucky So and So

Louis Armstrong has been called the most important improviser in the history of jazz. Although his New Orleans neighborhood was poor in nearly everything else, it was rich in superb music. Young Louis took it all in, especially the cornet blowing of Joe King Oliver. But after a run in with the police, 11-year-old Louis was sent away to the Colored Waif's Home for Boys where he became a disciplined musician in the school's revered marching band. By the time he returned to his neighborhood, the King himself became his mentor and invited Armstrong to play with him in Chicago. Here is a joyful tribute to the virtuoso musician and buoyant personality who introduced much of the world to jazz.

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Arnell Powell (Narrator)

Audiobook

Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage As the First Black-and-White Jazz Band in History

It wasn't soft/It wasn't black/It wasn't sweet/It wasn't white/It was swing. Brought together by the love of playing jazz music, Teddy Wilson and Benny Goodman broke the color barrier in entertainment when they formed the Benny Goodman Trio with Gene Krupa. This lush and lyrical picture book tells the story of how two musical prodigies from very different backgrounds - one a young black boy growing up in Tuskegee, Alabama, the other the son of struggling Russian-Jewish immigrants from the West Side of Chicago - were brought together by their love of music, and helped create the jazz style known as swing. "The true story of jazz musicians Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson is told in deep blues and gold with splashes of red throughout. The lyrical prose infuses the book with the spirit of jazz... The biographical back matter will give readers more insight into all of the musicians mentioned and shed light on how a love of music helped the two break down color lines." - School Library Journal "Ransome's line-and-watercolor pictures also flow with movement and color. Kids drawn in by the story of the young artists will go on to ponder the history." - Booklist

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Sean Crisden (Narrator)

Audiobook

Satchel Paige

Leroy 'Satchel' Paige was the first African American to pitch in a Major League World Series, and the first Negro Leaguer to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Fans of all ages can relive the dream as they hear about Satch's talents, feisty personality, popularity, and ultimate success in this rhythmic and vivid biography of one of baseball's most dazzling pitchers.

Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), Dion Graham (Narrator)

Audiobook