(Orchard Books) “Dear Ruby, Hear Our Hearts” by Ruby Bridges, illustrated by John Jay Cabuay, Orchard Books, 2024, 32 pages, $18.99 hardcover Read aloud: age 5 – 10. Read yourself: age 7 – 10.

The first is straightforward: Read through, start to finish, with zero grandstanding and you’ll still medal in the bedtime Olympics. (You’ve earned it, after 32 pages of text.