TIME PIECES The Book of Times

Narrator Lisa Renée Pitts brings a sincere, ingenuous quality to Valena, the heroine of Newbery-winning author Virginia Hamilton’s last novel. Eleven-year-old Valena, soon to be in sixth grade, finds that life is still full of phenomena that are difficult to understand--ghosts in the dark, the Aurora Borealis, a tornado, and the cruelty of racism. Valena’s mother tells her stories of their family’s past, which help Valena understand her own life and find her strength. Pitts handles each of Valena’s confused moments with a fine blend of childish spite and little-girl uncertainty. She does especially well detailing the family’s history, from the capture of Tunny Maud, a Pygmy woman taken to America in slavery, to the escape of Valena’s great-grandfather on the Underground Railroad. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE/JULY 05]