YA Review: Kent State

Looking for an audio book to listen to last month, I noticed a Deborah Wiles historical novel, Kent State, among my audio backlog. I loved Wiles' Revolution, part of her middle-grade Sixties Trilogy, and I mistakenly thought this might be a part of that series. But this book is aimed more at teens and young adults, and it tells the story of four American college students shot by National Guardsmen while protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State. This is not just any historical retelling but a powerful first-person recounting, told from multiple perspectives, that was all the more stunning on audio. I won't ever forget it.

Most people in the U.S. know the basic facts of this horrific historical event, if from nothing other than pop music and culture. On May 4, 1970, on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio, United States National Guardsmen were called in to quell student protests about the Vietnam War. Protests were common then, but this time, it turned deadly as the National Guardsmen opened fire on the students, killing four of them. The event drew national news headlines and inspired a now-familiar song by Neil Young (Four Dead in Ohio), but Wiles presents it here in a whole new light. Her book is told entirely in the first-person, from a wide variety of perspectives, as people who were involved are remembering the events of that week, leading up to the shootings. The narrative alternates between the stories of students at Kent State who knew the students who were killed, townspeople from Kent who were terrified of the increasing violence of student protests that week, a Black student from Ohio State where similar protests occurred, and even a National Guardsman who was there. The book is structured as if all of these people are in the same room together, each remembering events in their own way and telling their own stories. The result is an interwoven narrative of different perspectives that together provide a detailed and nuanced description of what occurred. The audio production features different narrators for each of the different characters, each speaking in the first-person, so that it feels as if they are all telling you their story.

The result, particularly on audio, is stunning, moving, and so powerful. I was absolutely riveted to this two-hour audio production and felt as if I was listening to these stories first-hand, in person. I learned a lot about the specific history of that event but also about what was happening in the U.S. at that time, on campuses across the nation, and the impact of the shootings. The author even includes songs and other pop culture references that resulted. I was not at all surprised to see that this audio won the 2021 ALA's Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audio Production--that award was well-deserved, as this was an audio experience that blew me away. Author's Notes at the end provide an idea of the depth of Wiles' research in pulling together these first-person accounts and different perspectives. Fifty years later, this event is still important and carries lessons that we can--and should--still learn from today. Listening to this recounting in first-person from so many varied sources is a powerful way to learn about the past.

144 pages, Scholastic

Scholastic Audio

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Ohio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

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