I Am Ruby Bridges

K-Gr 2–The production here offers a double reading—the first is meant as a read-along to the print title (gorgeously illustrated by Nikkolas Smith), complete with turn-the-page indicators; the second is a straight-through standalone narration. Relative newbie Capeless, still a teenager herself, narrates with crisp enunciation and emphatic energy over a lively background soundtrack. “I wanted to unfold a different version of my story,” Bridges writes in her afterword—which isn’t, but should be, included in the recording. “One that was told from my own six-year-old self.” As a five-then-six-year-old, Bridges knew little of the sociopolitical, history-making context of her going to school—that innocence, even humor, in remembering her experiences of early integration eventually transforms into understanding pride at becoming a barrier-breaking Civil Rights pioneer.