The Real Education of TJ Crowley: Coming of Age on the Redline: An Audio Drama

Summary

Updated Edition, now with a read-along Scriptbook! 

Winner of the 2025 Audie Award
Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award
IPPY Award - Outstanding Audiobook of the Year

In a time of national division, a teenager faces a choice of conscience—to hold on to the life he’s known or find the courage to stand up for the future he’s come to believe in.

“Performed by a gifted cast, this slice of our history stays with the listener.” —AudioFile Magazine

Wichita, summer 1968. The Civil Rights Movement is a time of turmoil and change. New fair-housing laws and the integration of schools promise equality, but not everyone is ready to accept this new reality. Your father is gone. Your brother is a soldier in Vietnam. Your mother is losing it. Then the Washingtons—a Black family with a daughter your age—cross the invisible red line and move in right next door.

You’re thirteen, walking into a newly integrated junior high with sports dreams, a temper you can’t always control, and classmates unlike any you’ve ever known: Eric, your wannabe-hippie best friend; Andy, the brainy athlete from Alabama; Leon, who declares he’s “The Greatest,” like his idol Muhammad Ali; and Ivy, the fearless girl you can’t ignore.

A man from your mother’s past appears—an old flame who fuels her hate and fear. He makes himself at home in your house. He orders you to help build the fence between your yard and hers. Your mother warns, “Stay away from them or you’re grounded for life!”

As tensions mount at home, haunting music drifts through the fence separating your house from theirs. You decide to step across, entering a world of possibility and danger.

Rooted in the author’s own journey and the lived experiences of others, this unforgettable drama gives voice to a period of history not unlike our own.

A story of who we were-and who we can be.

It demands to be both read and heard.

ADVISORY: Contains violent content and racist language. Best suited for mature YA listeners and adults.