Publisher Description
A unique, inside look at American childhood through the conversations between Highlights magazine and its young readers and a call to grown-ups to make time to actively listen to the children in their lives.
Every year, tens of thousands of children write to Highlights magazine, sharing their hopes and dreams, worries and concerns, as if they were writing to a trusted friend. From the beginning, the editors at Highlights have answered every child individually. Longtime editor in chief Christine French Cully has curated a collection of this remarkable correspondence (letters, emails, and poems) in Dear Highlights--revealing an intimate and inspiring 75-year conversation between America’s children and its leading children’s magazine. From the timeless, everyday concerns of friendship, family, and school, to the deeper issues of identity, sexuality, divorce, and grief, here is a unique time capsule of American childhood in the voices--and the very handwriting--of children themselves. The audiobook captures a child's-eye view of some of the most important events of the past 75 years: the COVID-19 pandemic, 9/11, the Challenger Disaster, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Cully’s insightful narrative becomes a call to action for adults to lean in and listen to children, to make sure our kids know that they matter and what they think matters, and to assure them that they have the power to become people who change the world.
By turns funny, heartbreaking, moving, and enlightening, Dear Highlights will cause listeners to reflect, to listen, and to embrace the children in their lives.
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About the Narrators
Amy Dickinson is a syndicated advice columnist. She replaced Ann Landers in 2003 and now pens the “Ask Amy” column, which appears in more than a hundred newspapers nationwide, including the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, Newsday, the Boston Herald, the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Washington Post.
Cassandra Morris has received critical acclaim for her voice-over work from Publishers Weekly and AudioFile magazine, earning a dozen Earphones Awards and twice been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. Her voice has also been heard on television in commercial campaigns and numerous Nickelodeon and Disney products. She is the voice of many cartoon characters, including Leo and Luna in Yu-Gi-Oh, Carrie in Barbie: A Fairy Secret, Nathan in Pokémon, and Lola in Angelo Rules.
Carla Corvo is an actress, known for The Wolf of Wall Street, The Suspect, and The Choking Game.
Timothy Andrés Pabon is an English- and Spanish-speaking voice-over artist who has worked extensively in advertising and audiobook narration. He has had acting roles on House of Cards and has also been a costar on HBO’s acclaimed series The Wire opposite country music legend Steve Earl. As a stage actor, he has worked off-Broadway at the June Havoc Theatre, and his regional credits include Center Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, the Hippodrome, Olney Theatre, Rep Stage, and GALA Hispanic Theatre.
Amanda Dolan is a professional actor in the MFA program at Brown University. Her credits include Richard III, Macbeth, Falsettos, The Rocky Horror Show, Hair, and The Who’s Tommy.
Tara Sands is an American actress, television host, and voice talent who has won numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards for narration. She is former cohost of Fridays on the Cartoon Network. In addition to performing in plays and musicals, her voice can be heard on numerous commercials, audiobooks, cartoons, and video games.
Adenrele Ojo is an actress, dancer, and audiobook narrator, winner of over a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2018. She made her on-screen debut in My Little Girl, starring Jennifer Lopez, and has since starred in several other films. She has also performed extensively with the Philadelphia Dance Company. As the daughter of John E. Allen, Jr., founder and artistic director of Freedom Theatre, the oldest African American theater in Pennsylvania, is no stranger to the stage. In 2010 she performed in the Fountain Theatre’s production of The Ballad of Emmett Till, which won the 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Ensemble. Other plays include August Wilson’s Jitney and Freedom Theatre’s own Black Nativity, where she played Mary.
Chris Henry Coffey is a film and television actor known for his role in David Schwimmer’s film, Trust. He has also had roles on Broadway, including the play Bronx Bombers. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, he divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.