Showing results by narrator "Kevin Free" in All Categories

On May 4, 1961, thirteen activists—black and white, young and old, male and female—board two buses in Washington, D.C., for New Orleans, Louisiana. Their Freedom Ride will last just twelve days. But their mission is clear. The laws prohibiting segregation on buses crossing state lines and at bus stations are being violated. These Freedom Riders are determined to draw attention to the laws’ lack of enforcement. But what starts as a peaceful protest turns violent as they travel deeper into the South. This is their story.

This revelatory and gripping nonfiction middle grade book explores a deeply troubling chapter in American history that is still playing out today: the strange case of Prince Edward County, Virginia, the only place in the United States to ever formally deny its citizens a public education, and the students who pushed back.

Malachi and his friends are just your regular average kids from hell. The suburbs that is, not the fiery pit part. But when Hell’s Bells ring out—signaling that a soul has escaped from one of the eternal circles, Mal and his friends can’t help but take the opportunity for a little adventure. Before they know it, they’ve somehow slipped through the veil and found themselves in the middle of Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night. And what’s even worse, they’ve managed to bring the escaped soul with them!

Valentine's Day is approaching, and Miles Lewis doesn't really like all the mush that comes with it. He is excited about the candy experiments they're doing in science class, though. And when his teacher asks for adult volunteers to help out, Miles and his friend Jada share that they're both planning on inviting their grandparents. That's when they realize that Miles's Nana and Jada's Pop Pop have a lot in common—could they be a perfect match?

The boxmates from the B.E.S.T. Academy are lost at sea and their best friend, Grayson Bix, is missing. Their hoverpod is busted, their stomachs are empty, and their hopes are crushed. When a mysterious vessel approaches, Ace, Leo, and Jayla are certain they'll be carted back to the Tower of Power, with their punishments for escaping awaiting. But a twist: The crew is rescued and introduced to a vibrant and thriving underwater world that is off the grid and out of Bixonics's eye...and one step closer to finding Grayson.

Kayla needs to return her library books so she can check out new ones. But she can’t find one of them. Where could it be? Can King and Kayla’s friend Jillian help?

The Heart of Atlanta Supreme Court decision stands among the court’s most significant civil rights rulings. In gripping detail built from exclusive interviews and original documents, Heart of Atlanta reveals the saga of the case’s rise to the US Supreme Court, which unanimously rejected the segregationists.

Miles Lewis loves science and sports. But when his teacher announces a class field trip to an ice skating rink to learn about physics, he isn't so excited. He's never ice skated before, and his friend RJ won't let him forget it. RJ even challenges him to a bet: If Miles skates without falling, RJ will put a “Miles is the man” sign on his backpack.

Miles has been waiting forever to be part of a city-wide science competition. Now his dream is finally coming true, and he's even part of an all-star team that includes his good friend, Jada. He should be in his element, so he can't seem to figure out why he feels like the weak link instead. While everyone else is rocking the project, Miles keeps messing up, and the team bickers and loses momentum. Miles is filled with self-doubt, and he has to wonder: Is he really a whiz at science, or is he actually a flop?

Rufus may have successfully sent the feylings home to the Green World, but he still has one pesky feyling under his wing: Nettle, his sometimes enemy, now mentor. Nettle is in charge of helping Rufus and his cousin Abigail protect Feylawn, their grandfather’s magical and mysterious homestead. But this difficult task becomes even more dangerous when a leopard appears in the woods without warning; strange, waterlogged women arrive to warn of impending doom; and a goblin begins digging his way back to Earth, hungry for revenge.

As far as this ice-cream-loving kid is concerned, every meal should include ice cream. In any form, in every flavor, he loves it all. But what he doesn't love is seeing other people with ice cream...while he's still waiting in line for his. That's when he can get his mad, "no-ice-cream-yet, waiting-in-a-long-line face"—until he finally gets his cone, and his mad face melts into something sweet. Heidi Woodward Sheffield gently explores a range of emotions as they relate to this delicious everyday experience.

When night falls upon Ditchfield Juvenile Detention Facility in the Maryland foothills, whatever the watch tower lights don’t touch is taken by the shadows. Inside are young men the state calls lost causes and future convicts. The violent. The mentally ill. The forgotten. Gordon Pope hates Ditchfield. Rumors have swirled about the place for years. Whispers of beatings. Mental abuse. Even experiments. Every patient he’s had that ended up there took a chunk of his heart with them.

Melvin Robinson wants a strong, smooth He-Man voice that lets him say what he wants, when he wants - especially to his crush Millie Takazawa, and Gary Ratliff, who constantly puts him down. But the thought of starting high school is only making his stutter worse. And Melvin's growing awareness that racism is everywhere - not just in the South where a boy his age has been brutally killed by two White men, but also in his own hometown of Spokane - is making him realize that he can't mutely stand by.

In 1911, famed cartoonist Winsor McCay debuted one of the first animated cartoons, based on his sophisticated newspaper strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, itself inspired by Freud’s recent research on dreams. McCay is largely forgotten today, but he unleashed an art form and the creative energy of artists from Otto Messmer and Max Fleischer to Walt Disney and Warner Bros.’ Chuck Jones. Wild Minds is an ode to our colorful past and to the creative energy that later inspired The Simpsons, South Park, and BoJack Horseman.

A thoughtful little Rabbit sets out to find the perfect gift for his nana. He knows she will love anything he brings her, but Rabbit wants this gift to be extra special. As he travels on his quest, Rabbit encounters an assortment of creatures - a crow, a smiling full moon, a stickler (whatever that is), a big fish, and a volcano. Each is certain they offer the best advice, but nothing they suggest seems right for his nana. It's not until Rabbit reaches the highest peak that he finds exactly what he's been searching for.

In this anthology of creative nonfiction, 28 writers set out to discover what they know, and don't know, about the person they call Mother. Celebrated writers Samia Serageldin and Lee Smith have curated a diverse and insightful collection that challenges stereotypes about mothers and expands our notions of motherhood in the South. The mothers in these essays were shaped, for good and bad, by the economic and political crosswinds of their time.

Tosh Livingston, superstar student-athlete from small-town USA, thinks he's made it big as a rising freshman at Harvard University. Not so fast! Once on campus, he's ensnared in a frenzied competition to win a spot on Harvard's legendary humor magazine, the Harpoon. Tosh soon finds that joining the Harpoon is a weird and surprisingly dangerous pursuit. He faces off against a secret society of super-rich kids, gets schooled by a philosophy professor who loves flunking everyone, and teams up with a genius student-cartoonist with an agenda of her own.

A lovable dog helps his human girl solve a mystery. Kayla lost a tooth, but now it's missing! What does Kayla know? Her tooth is not inside the tooth fairy pillow. It's not inside her backpack. It's not inside the car. What does King know? Mason's hand smells like the tooth fairy pillow. How will they solve the mystery?

Jonathan Lewis-Adey was nine when his mother, Sid, vanished entirely from his life. It’s not until he’s a grown man that Jonathan finally reconnects with his beloved lost parent, only to find, to his shock and dismay, that the woman he knew as 'Sid' in Toronto has become an elegant man named Sydney living in his native Trinidad. For nine years, Jonathan has paid regular visits to Sydney, trying with quiet desperation to rediscover the parent he adored inside this familiar stranger.

Jonathan Lewis-Adey was nine when his parents separated, and his mother, Sid, vanished entirely from his life. It is not until he is a grown man that Jonathan finally reconnects with his beloved lost parent, only to find, to his shock and dismay, that the woman he knew as "Sid" in Toronto has become an elegant man named Sydney living in his native Trinidad.