LeVar Burton Reads · LeVar Burton and Stitcher

"When the Apples are Ripe" by Diane Oliver

April 16, 2024·45 min·3 clips

Mrs. Gilly arrives Sunday morning, hands Doug the Confederate grandfather's watch, and says: 'My grandfather was a man of his time. I think he would have respected you as a man of your time.'

The frame begins with surprise. Burton talks about national lows, the good that survives them, and ancestry revelations that disturbed what he thought he knew. He does not smooth that over. He lets the disturbance stay, which fits the story that follows: America in the 1960s, during the Civil Rights Era, seen through Johnny's alert young eyes. Johnny has been sent to Mrs. Gilly's house, and the errand turns strange before much has even happened. The porch feels watchful. Mrs. Gilly checks that he is not one of the boys who ruined her sunflowers. Inside, the room is dim and crowded, with furniture spilling toward the porch and a yellowed shade muting the light. Johnny takes it all in: the piano pictures, the faded sofa, the stack of magazines tied to Doug. His father hated those magazines, which makes their presence in Mrs. Gilly's house feel like a clue he cannot yet read. Mrs. Gilly talks about mice, hands back the clean plate, and the story keeps its voice low. The pressure is in the room, in the reading, in the looking, and in what Johnny is only starting to understand. Burton leaves that hush alone. The return to the kitchen keeps Saturday morning moving, but something has shifted.

As heard by us

A quiet Civil Rights-era story that lets small details do the work.

LeVar Burton Reads settles into a story set in 1960s America, with the Civil Rights Era as its backdrop and Johnny, a young white boy in Maryland, at the center.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play for a Civil Rights-era story told through a young boy's point of view, where he notices more than he can explain.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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