Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

BELLE PRATER’S BOY

By Ruth White, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, 200 minutes, $19.99. Read by Alison Elliott.

Set in Coal Station, Va., during the 1950s, this lovely tale centers on two magnetic 6th graders, each mourning the loss of a parent. Alison Elliott from “The Spitfire Grill” narrates in a local dialect that’s never overdone or condescending. Winner of a Newbery Honor Medal, “Belle Prater’s Boy” portrays two shrewd preadolescents in a way that respects their intelligence.