UNSUNG HERO OF BIRDSONG, USA

Though his delivery is low-key, narrator John Kroft effectively voices the enthusiasm of a boy who is thrilled with his brand-new Schwinn bicycle. At the end of WWII, in a South Carolina town, 12-year-old Gabriel Haberlin pedals through a red light and is pushed from the path of an oncoming car by Meriwether Hunter, an African-American veteran. After the near accident, Kroft captures Gabriel's innocence and determination to do right by his new friend. Kroft ensures that listeners feel Gabriel's respect for Meriwether despite the endemic racism of the town he's growing up in. Gabriel sheds his innocence as he comes to understand the generalized threat that prevents Meriwether from talking about the distinguished service he's so proud of and the life-threatening menace of the KKK. S.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2019]