Audiobooks by Rita Williams-Garcia

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)

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She Persisted: Florence Griffith Joyner

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! In this chapter book biography by Rita Williams-Garcia, the award-winning author of One Crazy Summer, readers learn about the amazing life of three-time Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner--and how she persisted. Considered the fastest woman of all time, Florence Griffith Joyner, also known as Flo Jo, set two world records in 1988 that still stand today. But getting there wasn't easy, and Flo Jo had to overcome many challenges along the way. Complete with an introduction from Chelsea Clinton, black-and-white illustrations throughout, and a list of ways that readers can follow in Florence Griffith Joyner's footsteps and make a difference!

Chelsea Clinton, Rita Williams-Garcia (Author), Chelsea Clinton, Janina Edwards (Narrator)

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A Sitting in St. James

6 starred reviews! 'Monumental.' —Booklist (starred review) 'A marathon masterpiece.'—Kirkus (starred review) 'Necessary.'—SLJ (starred review) 'Shocking and dramatic.'—Shelf Awareness (starred review) 'Mesmerizing, confounding and vividly rendered.'—Book Page (starred review) 'Williams-Garcia’s storytelling is magnificent; her voice honest and authentic.'—Horn Book (starred review) 1860, Louisiana. After serving as mistress of Le Petit Cottage for more than six decades, Madame Sylvie Guilbert has decided, in spite of her family’s objections, to sit for a portrait. While Madame plots her last hurrah, stories that span generations—from the big house to out in the fields—of routine horrors, secrets buried as deep as the family fortune, and the tangled bonds of descendants and enslaved, come to light to reveal a true portrait of the Guilberts. This astonishing novel from three-time National Book Award finalist Rita Williams-Garcia about the interwoven lives of those bound to a plantation in antebellum America is an epic masterwork—empathetic, brutal, and entirely human—and essential reading for both teens and adults grappling with the long history of American racism.

Rita Williams-Garcia (Author), Machelle Williams (Narrator)

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Like Sisters on the Homefront

Rita Williams-Garcia's masterful and bold Coretta Scott King Honor Book is just as fresh, funny, and powerfully relevant today as when it was first published. It is now being reissued with a beautiful, contemporary new cover! When fourteen-year-old Gayle gets in trouble with a boy-again-her mother doesn't give her a choice: Gayle is getting sent away from New York to her family down South, along with her baby, José. In a small town in Georgia, there is nowhere to go but church, nothing to do but chores, and no friends except her goody-goody, big-boned, kneesock-wearing cousin, Cookie. Gayle is stuck cleaning up after Great, the old family matriarch who stays upstairs in her bed. But the more she spends time with Cookie and Great, Gayle learns about her family's history and secrets, stretching all the way back through the preachers and ancestors of the past. And slowly, the stories of her roots begin to change how Gayle sees her future. Rediscover this novel by a master storyteller and Newbery Honor-winning author, about one girl's discovery of her own African American family history-and her own place within it.

Rita Williams-Garcia (Author), Joniece Abbott-Pratt (Narrator)

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Clayton Byrd Goes Underground

From beloved Newbery Honor winner and three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia comes a powerful and heartfelt novel about loss, family, and love that will appeal to fans of Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander. Clayton feels most alive when he’s with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen—he can’t wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton’s mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that’s no way to live. Armed with his grandfather’s brown porkpie hat and his harmonica, he runs away from home in search of the Bluesmen, hoping he can join them on the road. But on the journey that takes him through the New York City subways and to Washington Square Park, Clayton learns some things that surprise him

Rita Williams-Garcia (Author), Adam Lazarre-White (Narrator)

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Gone Crazy in Alabama

Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of the Gaither sisters, who are about to learn what it's like to be fish out of water as they travel from the streets of Brooklyn to the rural South for the summer of a lifetime. Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit their grandmother, Big Ma, and her mother, Ma Charles. Across the way lives Ma Charles's half sister, Miss Trotter. The two half sisters haven't spoken in years. As Delphine hears about her family history, she uncovers the surprising truth that's been keeping the sisters apart. But when tragedy strikes, Delphine discovers that the bonds of family run deeper than she ever knew possible. Powerful and humorous, this companion to the award-winning One Crazy Summer and P.S. Be Eleven will be enjoyed by fans of the first two books as well as by readers meeting these memorable sisters for the first time.

Rita Williams-Garcia (Author), Sisi A. Johnson (Narrator)

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P.S. Be Eleven

Things are changing in the Gaither household. After soaking up a "power to the people" mind-set over the summer, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern return to Brooklyn with a newfound streak of independence. Pa has a girlfriend. Uncle Darnell is home from Vietnam, but he's not the same. And a new singing group called the Jackson Five has the girls seeing stars. But the one thing that doesn't change? Big Ma still expects Delphine to keep everything together. That's even harder now that her sisters refuse to be bossed around, and now that Pa's girlfriend voices her own opinions about things. Through letters, Delphine confides in her mother, who reminds her not to grow up too fast. To be eleven while she can. An outstanding successor to the Newbery Honor Book One Crazy Summer, P.S. Be Eleven stands on its own as a moving, funny story of three sisters growing up amid the radical change of the 1960s, beautifully written by the inimitable Rita Williams-Garcia.

Rita Williams-Garcia (Author), Sisi Aisha Johnson (Narrator)

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One Crazy Summer

Eleven-year-old Delphine and her younger sisters Vonetta and Fern travel to Oakland to meet their mother, Cecil, who abandoned their family years earlier. But even when Cecil gets them to her house, she shows no interest and seems to view them as nothing but a nuisance. Cecil's cold, unloving attitude leaves the girls wishing for the mother-daughter connection they've never had. But Cecil acts remarkably different after she sees her daughters at the Black Panther rally, where they recite a poem Cecil herself had written. At that point, Cecil's attitude toward her daughters begins a remarkable change. Rita Williams-Garcia has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and her novel One Crazy Summer was recognized as a New York Times Editor's Choice. Narrator Sisi Aisha Johnson relates the story with the refreshing honesty of a tale told through young Delphine's innocent eyes. 'With memorable characters ' and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading.''School Library Journal, starred review

Rita Williams-Garcia (Author), Sisi Aisha Johnson (Narrator)

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Jumped

In this 2009 National Book Award finalist, Rita Williams-Garcia proves that she has an "uncanny ability to project unique voices" (Publishers Weekly). Jumped is told in alternating points of view between three girls as they struggle to make tough choices when they become involved in a fight at their urban high school.

Rita Williams-Garcia (Author), Blanca Busquets, Blanca Vasquez, Cherise Boothe, Mark Turetsky, Shari Peele (Narrator)

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