Best of Nashville
Kids
Best Person to Introduce Your Kids to Tennessee History
Ronald Kidd
Most kids think studying history is only marginally better than getting the flu. Fortunately, Ronald Kidd writes young-adult novels that make Tennessee's past accessible and fun: His youthful protagonists pull the reader into lives as complicated as the times in which they live. In Monkey Town, he told the story of the 1925 Scopes evolution trial through the eyes of a thoughtful 15-year-old girl. With this year's On Beale Street, Kidd presents the segregationist 1950s as witnessed by a troubled Memphis teenager who has a front-row seat at the birth of rock 'n' roll. From Clarence Darrow to Elvis Presley, Kidd keeps the past—and its still-relevant issues—alive. —CHRIS SCOTT
