Narrator Tavia Gilbert’s voice is perfect for this intelligent exploration of risk by an international crisis analyst. Gilbert’s mature, assertive tone fits the author’s command of her topic. Even when sentences are packed with information, Gilbert’s flawless phrasing makes them clear. Michele Wucker examines how gender and age, cultural and family norms, and economic status…
When Betty Sweet’s life implodes in LaFontaine, Michigan, in the 1960s, she finds a new purpose as she works through her grief. Narrator Tavia Gilbert brings Betty’s voice alive in a story that shines a light on the power of family to help us navigate life’s storms and the power of stories to bring us…
Pearl Spence has finally settled into a routine in Bliss, Michigan, far from her home in Red River, Oklahoma. Like all the other kids, she goes to school each day, plays in the woods, and does her chores. But there’s one big difference: Mama is still gone and doesn’t seem to have a thought for…
Using a young-sounding voice, Tavia Gilbert narrates this hopeful story of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Ten-year-old Pearl Spence moves from Oklahoma to Michigan to settle with her father’s cousins. Gilbert imbues Pearl with a subtle twang that contrasts with her father’s deep emotional tones. Gilbert assigns Pearl’s 12-year-old friend, Ray, a gruff…
Ten-year-old Pearl Spence is a daydreamer, playing make-believe to escape life in Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl in 1935. The Spences have their share of misfortune, but as the sheriff’s family, they’ve got more than most in this dry, desolate place. They’re who the town turns to when there’s a crisis or a need – and during…
What must it have been like walking in the garden, talking with God? What would it be like to share our troubles and joys openly with him, to hear his voice responding to our questions? How might knowing God’s view on our stories heal our wounds and renew our hope? No matter our…
When Leora Ebersole sees the small plane crash in her Old Order Mennonite community, she has no idea it’s a foreshadowing of things to come. Soon after the young pilot, Moses Hughes, regains consciousness, they realize his instruments were destroyed by the same power outage that killed the electricity at the community store, where Englischers…
A highly skilled narrator helps provide an authentic-sounding setting for this story of love and betrayal within an Old Order Mennonite community. The story is told from the first-person point of view of the two lead characters, Rachel and her twin sister’s late father-in-law. Tavia Gilbert’s narration is confident and assured; her strong characterizations ensure…
Tavia Gilbert uses an animated voice and a varied pace to deliver these practical teachings on how to rise above a painful past. The author believes such “baggage” is an underlying cause of addictions, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts, and more. Gilbert adds a subtle emphasis to Alcorn’s first “key” to success–a commitment to follow Christ–without…