OVERGROUND RAILROAD

The rumble of train tracks, warm twangs of a banjo, and soft humming set the scene for this children’s audiobook tracing one family’s journey north during the Great Migration. Narrator Shayna Small embodies Ruth Ellen, the young Black girl who is escaping life on a tenant farm for a new life in New York. Shayna’s voice reflects Ruth Ellen’s mingled anxiety and joy at making the train journey with her parents, and the sadness of leaving other family members behind. Narrator Dion Graham calls out as the conductor in a booming voice and quietly joins in when Ruth Ellen reads from a worn copy of Frederick Douglass’s chronicle of his escape to freedom. The skillfully layered audiobook mirrors the richness of the picture book’s moving illustrations. E.E.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2020 Best Audiobook, 2021 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2020]