Stella by Starlight

Peering through brush in the starlight, Stella and her brother see hooded Klan figures burning a cross. They race home to bring the unwelcome news to their tightly knit North Carolina community, circa 1930. With an active KKK in town, the African-American residents are in danger. Narrator Heather Alicia Simms creates convincing character voices for Bumblebee's many residents who are struggling to overcome the segregated status quo--as well as for those who are working to preserve it. Stella struggles as a writer, trying to express her thoughts, a process that the listener hears as she writes and rewrites school assignments. Simms has a lovely voice for singing the hymns woven throughout the fabric of Stella's community, but her often cheerful narrative tone sometimes belies the gravity of Stella's story. L.T. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine