Hello ,
'Pure Grit': An informative, harrowing tale of nurses' survival as Japanese prisoners, that according to the Washington Post this week. Read the review here. Check out the new Teachers' Guide
below.
Thanks for the love at Auntie's Bookstore! PURE GRIT's Spokane launch was an amazing day for me, a celebration of the book and all of you who helped me make it happen.
When Courage was Nine Years Old |
On Thursday morning, May 2, 1963,
nine-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks woke up with freedom on her mind. But, before she could be free, there was something important she had to do. "I want to go to jail," Audrey had told her mother. Since Mr. and Mrs.
Hendricks thought that was a good idea, they helped her get ready. Her father had even bought her a new game she'd been eyeing. Audrey imagined that it would entertain her if she got bored during her week on a cell block. That morning, her mother took her to Center Street Elementary so she could tell her third-grade teacher why she'd be absent. Mrs.
Wills cried. Audrey knew she was proud of her. She also hugged all four grandparents goodbye. One of her grandmothers assured her, "You'll be fine." Then Audrey's parents drove her to the church to get arrested. Excerpt from WE'VE GOT A JOB By Cynthia Levinson
Author Cynthia Levinson Talks About What She Learned about Courage while Writing WE'VE GOT A JOB |
Inevitably, a child asks me during a school visit, "So, would you do it?" I can tell by the
group's eager expressions that they want me to shout, "Absolutely!" They know they would do it. Invariably, however, I have to answer, "I wish I could say, 'Yes.' But I'm too cowardly." Their new expressions tell me they're disappointed. After all, why would their school invite an author who's a wimp, especially when the story she's just told them focuses on thousands of courageous children? As a result, I've been tempted to alter my response. However, not only must I be honest but also I've begun to realize that, paradoxically, their disappointment is part of why I'm there. When Mary Cronk Farrell asked me to write about how the subjects of my book, We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March, affected me, I knew the topic would be complex. Through the
experiences of four specific young people, the book tells the story of how 3000 to 4000 black school children desegregated Birmingham, Alabama-the city that Dr. King considered the most violently racist in the country. It was certainly the most thoroughly segregated, with laws and customs decreeing that "Negro and white people are not to play together," that a seven-foot wall must separate blacks and whites in restaurants, that separate ambulances should carry sick people to separate
hospitals. Some black ministers and others tried for years to desegregate the town. But a racist police commissioner, named "Bull" Connor, who ignored bombs tossed at the homes and churches of civil rights activists, defeated them. Instead, children took the lead that May. They protested, picketed, sat-in at lunch counters, and, above all, marched. Even when the commissioner attacked them with snarling German shepherds and
powerful water canons, the children held hands and kept marching. They also sang, prayed, were arrested en masse, spent days and nights in packed jails-and did it all peacefully. Read more... Author & Teacher Nancy Castaldo
featured PURE GRIT on her blog this week. The post suggests current novels that tackle some of the same issues as my book including veteran's coming home to face Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and family relationship challenges. Click here for Nancy's blog Historically Speaking.
Author Christine Kohler wrote the novel NO SURRENDER SOLIDER,
a story encompassing the experiences of a WWII soldier, a Vietnam soldier and the boy that links the two. Last week she invited me to talk on her blog about how the stories of the WWII POW nurses were almost lost forever. Find that and more on Christine's book at READ LIKE A WRITER, a Teaching
Blog. |
Thanks for your time! If you'd like to get your hands on a copy of PURE GRIT, check out this page. If I will not be coming to your area soon and you'd like a signed copy of the book, e-mail me and I will mail you a signed bookplate. Please forward this newsletter to friends who might enjoy it. To find out more about my books, how I help students, teachers and librarians, visit my website
at www.MaryCronkFarrell.com. I'm also available for skype chats. Yours Truly, Mary Questions? Comments? Contact me at MaryCronkFarrell@gmail.com. Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. |
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