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The Real Education of TJ Crowley: Coming of Age on the Redline: An Audio Drama Audiobook
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An immersive audio dramatization featuring 15 award-winning actors, The Real Education of TJ Crowley is a fast-paced, suspenseful coming-of-age story. A heartrending yet hopeful tale, it vividly transports listeners to the American heartland at the height of the Civil Rights movement.
Inspired by true events, this adaptation by director/producer May Wuthrich and Grant Overstake, author of the acclaimed novel, recaptures the trials faced by a generation of young teens.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s slaying sparks riots as the bitter divide over civil rights and the Vietnam War wracks the country, and Wichita, Kansas is no exception. There, 13-year-old TJ Crowley, who’s about to face his first year of junior high at a newly integrated school, lives alone with his unstable mother, Kate.
The Fair Housing Act results in the unthinkable for the Crowleys when a Black family, headed by the eminent Dr. Washington, crosses the racial red line and moves in right next door. TJ’s mother panics and makes a desperate call to Ray, a former boyfriend, who’s released from prison just in time to take care of the “problem next door.”
Tensions escalate as the Crowleys build a fence at their property line and TJ’s mom declares “them” off-limits. But at school, TJ is getting to know his new classmate, Ivy, the girl next door. And when TJ eavesdrops from afar, the Negro spirituals her father plays in his converted garage, piques his curiosity.
Following a series of dramatic events, TJ decides to accept the doctor’s invitation and crosses the forbidden line to visit his neighbors. When poor behavior and bad grades ruin TJ’s chances to play football and basketball, track and field is his only chance for redemption at school. A former athlete, the doctor prescribes the shot put, teaching TJ to launch the iron ball in secret sessions behind the fence. Meanwhile, local hate crimes trace back to Ray and detectives lean on TJ to help capture the criminal in his own home.
In this gripping audio drama, circumstances beyond TJ’s control force him to decide who he is, what he believes, and on which side of the fence he chooses to belong.
Dani Martineck’s explosive portrayal of the vulnerable TJ and Dion Graham’s performance as the soulful Dr. Washington lead this stunning production of award-winning actors, including Tavia Gilbert as Kate, Shayna Small as Ivy, Johnny Heller as Ray, and Sheila Brown Kinnard as Mrs. Washington, a role inspired by her activist mother, Josephine Brown.
Sound effects and music from the acclaimed ARISE Ensemble bring authenticity to the listening experience; and, Grant Overstake, a former Miami Herald Sports writer, adds excitement to tense moments in the bleachers and on the field.
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“Brought to life by a series of finely drawn characters, the book offers readers, particularly teens, a chance to think about some of the most important issues facing our society today.”
— Mark Potok, former senior fellow, Southern Poverty Law Center
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“A deftly-crafted, thought-provoking, and solid work of YA historical fiction.”
— Midwest Book Review -
“A compelling book for our time.”
— Library Journal -
“Historical fiction at its finest.”
— Nancy Julien Kopp, “Chicken Soup for the Soul”
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About the Authors
A former Miami Herald sportswriter and newspaper editor, Grant Overstake competed in the decathlon for the University of Kansas Jayhawks. A multiple award winner for excellence in writing, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is his first novel.
Award-winning producer and director, May Wuthrich is a former actor with a background in traditional book publishing and book to screen script development. With over 400 audiobooks to her credit, she’s had the privilege of collaborating with an impressive roster of talent, including Pulitzer Prize–winners, as well as other award-winning authors.
About the Narrators
Soneela Nankani is an award-winning narrator with over three hundred titles in many different genres including Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Nonfiction. She has garnered sixteen Earphones Awards, nominations for Audie and SOVAS awards, and was recently awarded AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Honor. Her audiobooks have been featured in Best Audiobooks lists by AudioFile magazine and the Washington Post, among others. In her spare time, she loves to read (yes, really), learn languages, try new recipes, and travel. She lives in the DC area with her husband and two mischievous daughters.
Dion Graham is an award-winning narrator named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Audie Award numerous times, as well as Earphones Awards, the Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards, IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, and the ALA Odyssey Award. He was nominated in 2015 for a Voice Arts Award for Outstanding Narration. He is also a critically acclaimed actor who has performed on Broadway, off Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series. He is a graduate of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, with an MFA degree in acting.
Tavia Gilbert is an acclaimed narrator of more than four hundred full-cast and multivoice audiobooks for virtually every publisher in the industry. Named the 2018 Voice of Choice by Booklist magazine, she is also winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has earned numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award. Audible.com has named her a Genre-Defining Narrator: Master of Memoir. In addition to voice acting, she is an accomplished producer, singer, and theater actor. She is also a producer, singer, photographer, and a writer, as well as the cofounder of a feminist publishing company, Animal Mineral.
Johnny Heller, winner of numerous Earphones and Audie Awards, was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has been a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013 and he has been named a top voice of 2008 and 2009 and selected as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine.
Kevin R. Free is an audiobook narrator and the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and several AudioFile best narrations of the year selections. Known for his work with young-adult novels, he has read titles by Rick Riordan, Walter Dean Myers, and Joe Haldeman. In 2011 he was named a Best Voice in Young Adult and Fantasy from AudioFile magazine for his narration of Myers’ The Cruisers: Checkmate.
Shayna Small is an actress, singer, and educator based in New York, where she received her BFA in Drama from the Juilliard School. She has worked across a variety of media including theater, film and tv, music and voice-over.
Ari Fliakos is an actor with experience in television, radio, film, theater, and voice-overs. He has earned four Earphones Awards, and his narration of Seth Patrick’s Reviver won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration for paranormal fiction. On screen, he is best-known for his roles in Law & Order, Pills, and Company K.
Michael Crouch is an actor based in New York City. His audiobook narration has won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, and Best of the Year accolades from Booklist, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. He can also be heard on national commercials, cartoons, video games, and the animé series Pokémon XY and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V.
Kirby Heyborne is a musician, actor, and professional narrator. Noted for his work in teen and juvenile audio, he has garnered over twenty Earphones Awards. His audiobook credits include Jesse Kellerman’s The Genius, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, and George R. R. Martin’s Selections from Dreamsongs.
Graham Halstead, an Earphones Award and Audie Award–winning narrator, is a professionally trained actor and voice artist. As an actor, he has worked internationally in Edinburgh and London, as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. His youthful, easy-flowing voice can be heard on television and radio voicing spots for Airborne and Allegra.
Peter Berkrot, winner of Audie and Earphones Awards for narration, is a stage, screen, and television actor and acting coach. He has narrated over 450 works that span a range of genres, including fiction, nonfiction, thriller, and children’s titles. His audiobook credits include works of Alan Glynn, Eric Van Lustbader, Nora Roberts and Dean Koontz. In film and television, he appeared in Caddyshack, America’s Most Wanted, and Unsolved Mysteries. He performs in regional and New York theaters and directs the New Voices acting school.
Thérèse Plummer is an actor, award-winning voice-over artist, and counselor. She has won eighteen AudioFile Earphones Awards and has been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has appeared in a variety of television and film roles. As a counselor for adolescents, she spent five years using drama therapy techniques in individual and group settings.
Brittany Pressley has won several Earphones Awards as well as the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration in 2018. She has recorded over one hundred titles and has received several nominations for American Library Association’s annual list of Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults. She is also an accomplished singer-songwriter and voice actress. Her voice can be heard on national and international TV and radio commercials as well as several animated series and video games. She is a graduate of Columbia University.
Bleak December Inc. is a multimedia company founded by Canadian actor and filmmaker Anthony D.P. Mann.