The Burning (Young Readers Edition): Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921

Gr 6 Up–Two decades after Madigan wrote The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 about “the nation’s worst race war,” award-winning writer Beard heightens the event’s significance with amplified awareness of social justice, systemic racism, and critical race theory in this young readers edition. While crediting white journalist Madigan with well-deserved appreciation for his “craftsmanship...skill...artistry,” Beard also took “the opportunity to add some additional context and a new perspective”—adroitly enhancing the mostly white, male chronicles with those of the accomplished men and women of Black Wall Street. Bill Andrew Quinn, who narrated the adult title, returns here, but his recasting initially jars as he reads Beard’s insightful introduction, written in the first person, in which she identifies herself within minutes “as an African American, as a woman.”