Congratulations to Linda Anderson Gutheil who won W Is For Welcome and to Michelle Wall who won Ebenezer Creek. REVIEW BE FREE OR DIE (St. Martin's Press, 2017) by Cate Lineberry is actually more than what the subtitle conveys. It is simultaneously a detailed account of how a young slave impacted the cause of the Union, as well as… Continue reading Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero — An Audio Book Review
This blog post is courtesy of Augusta Scattergood who gave me a copy of Linda Williams Jackson's debut middle grade novel, MIDNIGHT WITHOUT A MOON (Houghton Mifflin, 2017) and Vijaya Bodach who recommended Donald Maass's book, The EMOTIONAL CRAFT of FICTION (Writer's Digest Books, 2016). Since Half-Truths is on hold right now while I'm waiting for feedback from my readers,… Continue reading Midnight Without a Moon: A Review, ARC Giveaway, and Focus on "The Emotional Craft of Fiction"
Congratulations to Sheri Levy who won Dorothy Price's picture book, "Nana's Favorite Things." In November I reviewed Mississippi Trial, 1955 and analyzed a scene using questions that Rebecca Petruck posed to me. In this post I'm sharing an excerpt from another award winning book about the Jim Crow period, Guardian by Julius Lester. This time I'm analyzing… Continue reading Guardian: A Book Review and a Writing Exercise
Congratulations to Linda Phillips who won Kathy Erskine's book Seeing Red. ******** It's been awhile since I've reviewed a multi-racial book and Just an Overnight Guest by Eleanora Tate fits the bill--but from a different perspective than the other books I've reviewed as background for writing Half-Truths. The only thing wrong with nine-year-old Margie Carson's life in the… Continue reading Multi-Racial Read #19: Just an Overnight Guest- And a Giveaway!
As promised, today you're going to meet four women I have interviewed in the process of writing Half-Truths. I hope you'll enjoy a glimpse at their lives--"back in the day"-- and a few of their insights which have contributed to my book. Thereasea Elder T.D.'s Truths by Stanley and Janice Frazier In 1962, Thereasea was… Continue reading Meet My Experts–Part I
I'm taking a break from my blog series on the writing class I took this fall to highlight (and give away!) two books for children. I thought they'd make great holiday gifts for some fortunate student, child, grandchild, niece or nephew. This week I'm hosting Carole Weatherford as she shares wonderful insights into her new… Continue reading Birmingham 1963 + A Giveaway!
Ernest Gaines paints a compelling portrait of life in the late 1940's in a small Louisiana town. A young black teacher, Grant Wiggins, is caught in the middle of a number of struggles. A graduate of the local university, he is respected and the recipient of high expectations from the black community as well as feared… Continue reading A Lesson Before Dying
Eleven-year-old Nellie Lee Love is the light-skinned sister and confidant to her darker and 10-months-older sister, Erma Jean. In the spring of 1919 when their uncle's murder is covered up, Erma Jean becomes unable to speak and is sent north to Chicago to see if physicians can cure her "hysteria." Soon afterwards their father decides… Continue reading Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North
As my loyal blog readers know, I am researching and writing my first young adult novel, Half-Truths. Since the story involves a light-skinned African American girl, I have read several multi-racial books. I recently completed The Sweeter the Juice: A Family Memoir in Black and White (Simon and Schuster, 1995), by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip, a contemporary… Continue reading Multi-Racial Read #9: The Sweeter The Juice
This powerful novel written in screenplay format, takes place during four hot days in July, 1863. Walter Dean Myers layers conflict after conflict into this little known story about the riot between African Americans and Irish immigrants in New York City. On the national level, the Civil War rages and Abraham Lincoln has just instituted… Continue reading Riot: Multi-Racial Read #6