The Other Madisons: An Audio Book Review

 For those of you who know me and my journey with Half-Truths, you will appreciate that when I heard of Bettye Kearse's book, The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President's Black Family, I knew I had to read it. Since I am way behind on my to-be-read books, I was fortunate to receive a review copy from Recorded Books. See the giveaway notes at the bottom to see how you can receive a copy of this rich memoir. 

I heard Bettye speak at a webinar sponsored by the Charlotte chapter of the Women's National Book Association. After I heard Bettye's compelling talk I reached out to her and we met virtually and have exchanged emails and phone calls. I am thrilled to share her book with you, as well as a few thoughts about her writing journey. Let's just stay that I'm not alone in investing over fifteen years into a project I love.

REVIEW

Few of us can trace our ancestry as Bettye Kearse has.  She is a eighth-generation griotte and her mother said to her from the time she was a child, "Always remember--you are a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president." 

Bettye unpacks the full implication of this family credo when her mother passes on to her a box full of ancestral documents, priceless mementoes, and photographs.  At the time, Bettye was a successful pediatrician in Boston. Her life was about to change.

Bettye (around four or five) standing with her mother .

This rich, sensory memoir begins and ends with the voice of Mandy, Bettye's enslaved ancestor stolen from Ghana. Kidnapped from her home, Mandy is crammed into a slave ship. The reader feels the splinters in her hands in the hold of the ship, smells the reek of urine and feces, and feels the horrific chains binding her. 

When she gets to Montpelier, James Madison's Virginia plantation, Mandy's agonies have only just begun. Sexually assaulted by James Madison senior, she gives birth to their daughter Coreen. James Madison's son, James junior, is attracted to Coreen and he takes her for himself--despite the fact that she is his half-sister. (Bettye explains these complicated relationships in this interview.)

Having grown up in the sixties, Bettye is uncomfortable with her mother's unflinching pride in being a descendent of the Madisons. President James Madison had owned and abused her ancestors! How could she be proud of that? 

Knowing that she was challenging parts of her family history that her mother hadn't, Bettye wonders what she can contribute to the family legacy. Though hesitant, Bettye determines to uncover the truths about her ancestors and becomes the first person to write the family history down. 

An 1860 slave census listing Bettye's 
great-great-grandparents
and their children.

Bettye was very close to her grandfather, and the book is full of their relationship. He frequently told her mother, "Our white ancestors laid the foundation of this country, but our dark-skinned ancestors built it." Another time he commented, "Racism is just another challenge, and challenges make us strong." 

Bettye's research into her past takes her to Lagos, Portugal. What she finds rocks her to the core. The people who live in this tourist town are oblivious to the slave trade that had begun there in 1441. "There wasn't one morsel of information about slave stockades. The erasure was complete."

Bettye visits the Elmina Castle in Ghana and imagines what it was like for the enslaved men and women who were stolen, separated from their families, and kept in bondage. Her description of these atrocious events is complete. 150-300 women stood pressed together in "rooms of deep sorrow." They were marched through a "gate of no return" to a slave ship. "The ocean wiped away their footprints."

When Bettye comes back to the states, she visits the National Black Wax Museum in Baltimore. On board a replica of a slave ship, Bettye puts herself into Mandy's horrific experiences of possibly being raped, sick, and close to death. She wonders if she would have made it to the New World. 

There is much more to this book: Bettye's conversations with her mother over the nature of the sexual relationships between owners and slaves (her mother called it "visiting"),  Bettye's first encounter with Jim Crow when she was five-years-old, the racism she still experiences, Bettye's pride for her family and other enslaved Blacks, how she feels holding the picture of her great-great-great grandmother--the first ancestor she could see. 

This is an important book and one you won't quickly forget. 

IN HER OWN WORDS

In one of our conversations, Bettye told me that the hardest part of writing this memoir was what to do with the "rich material" she had received from her mother. Initially, Bettye wrote the book the way her mother wanted, as a record of their family stories. Then, she realized that her story wasn't unique to her and a mentor recommended that she write it as fiction; but that came out "flat." Her mentor then suggested Bettye write a memoir. Inserting her own feelings was difficult, but that process breathed life into the narrative. "It was very rewarding to discover my purpose by writing this as a memoir and realizing that I had a message for others."

AUDIO and VIDEOS

The narrator, Karen Chilton, has a beautiful reading voice and immersed me in the memoir. Sometimes I forgot that it wasn't Bettye speaking. Here is an audio snippet to show you how well Chilton reads the book:

https://soundcloud.com/recorded_books/audiobook-excerpt-the-other-madisons

Here is a video sequence narrated by Bettye and other historians.

A VIRTUAL SCREENING

Join Bettye for a virtual screening of the Eduardo Montes-Bradley documentary, The Other Madisons. There are several opportunities to view the film over the next few weeks.

GIVEAWAY

Leave me a comment by March 20 at 6 PM if you would like to enter this giveaway. PLEASE leave me your email address if you are new to my blog. 

DISCUSSION GUIDE

This book is a great book club selection. Download the discussion guide here.

FREE LUNCH: An Audiobook Review

Congratulations to Connie Saunders for winning THROUGH THE WARDROBE from last week's blog. Here's a tip to win a book. Whenever Connie enters my giveaway, she ALWAYS shares it on social media. This earns her more chances to win a book--and it works!

"This book is for every kid. Whether they pay for their lunch or not."  FREE LUNCH by Rex Ogle. 

REVIEW

"Why can’t I get what I want at the grocery store?" Rex asks his mother. Unfortunately, he knows the answer.  It’s been like this all his life. He hates seeing all of the chips, candy, and ice cream that other kids eat that he doesn't; he hates watching his mother try to stretch every dollar and use food stamps; he hates his constantly empty stomach; he hates having cashiers looking at him like he might steal something because his clothes come from the thrift store. 

Told in first person POV, this nonfiction autobiography is Rex's own story growing up in a dysfunctional family. He's angry that his family--including Sam, his mother's stuttering live-in boyfriend; and Ford, his toddler half-brother that Rex takes care of--are all poor. 

And he hates the helplessness and fighting in their home that poverty creates. Rex wants to blame his mother for not working but he also realizes that without a job, "all of the love goes out of Mom." Over and over she tells him how hard it is for her to get a decent job and blames him for being ungrateful.

The ultimate humiliation is when Rex enters middle school and discovers that his mother registered him for the free lunch program. Every day he feels like a beggar while he waits for the lunch lady to check his name off the free lunch checklist.  

Ogle doesn't hold back from painting the realistic but ugly picture of his childhood. The family moves frequently as the adults look for jobs. The lack of money leads to tension, arguing, and fighting. His mother gives him a black eye on more than one occasion. Rex's clothes are stashed in cardboard boxes and he sleeps on the floor--along with the cockroaches. 

The one bright light in his life is his abuela, his Mexican grandmother. She is his cheerleader. "You are smart and handsome. Life is not always fair," she tells him. "I lived in a one-room house without indoor plumbing and dirt floor with my13 brothers and sisters. We made it work. You will too." 

As hungry, poor, and angry Rex is, he tries to control his emotions, to not be rude, and to not hit back. But his own anger makes him feel evil. He has to remind himself that "being poor is not a disease."

In the cauldron of poverty and abuse, Rex experiences problems at school and with his peers. Despite worrying about how he can keep his poverty a secret so that his friends won't turn on him he thinks, "School feels safer than home." 

But things get worse. His friends reject him. He wears a monster costume on Halloween and starts worrying that he is a monster-- just like Sam or his mother. His family moves to public housing which is the last straw. He lashes out and tells his mother, "I hate you." She slaps him. Hard. He is constantly on edge wondering when she will strike back him and how could their lives get worse. Would they be homeless? Would they starve? Would he die? 

He develops a friendship with Ethan, a boy who he sits with at lunch. Ethan's point-of-view -- that his life isn't as perfect as it seems even though he his parents have lots of money--is eye-opening. "Come on, no one has a perfect life!" Ethan says... "Money isn't everything. Trust me."  

Towards the end, his mother gets a good waitressing job and the family takes some steps towards healing. Sam goes out of his way to give Rex an unexpected Christmas gift and the book ends on a hopeful note.  

FREE LUNCH tells it like it was for young Rex Ogle. A few readers might object to some crude language. To me, it was a brutally honest book. As Rex says at one point, "I don’t trust the word free. Look what it’s cost me." 

The audiobook is narrated by Ramon de Ocampo, who performs all of the voices excellently. I was particularly impressed with how well he showed Sam's stuttering. 

In a Facebook exchange, Rex told me this was the hardest book he's ever written--until the one he's writing now which is the sequel. But he's "glad it's helping some kiddos out there."

This is not an easy read; there were times I had to stop listening. I would recommend that middle-grade students read or listen to it with their parents or teacher so they can discuss it together. Although Rex is entering sixth grade in the book, the tough content might indicate it is more for young adults. 

GIVEAWAY 

If you're interested in adding this book to your home or school library, please leave me a comment by 9 AM on June 26. The winner will receive an audio code and instructions on downloading the book. As always, if you decide to follow my blog or share this on social media, let me know what you do in the comments. PLEASE leave your email address if you are new to my blog. This giveaway is courtesy of Recorded Books. 

Ordinary Hazards: An Audio Book Review and Giveaway

Congratulations to Barbara Younger for winning CAVE DADA from last week's blog.

Nikki Grimes writes powerful young adult books in verse. You'll find my reviews of Between the Lines and Words with Wings on previous posts. Now I know why she is able to write such authentic poetry. It comes from the depth of her soul and the pain from her past. 

Note: since this is a review of the audiobook, I did my best to capture quotes from the book. 

REVIEW

Nikki narrates the book and begins with this definition:

Memoir: A work of imperfect memory in which you meticulously capture all that you can recall and use informed imagination to fill in what remains. As she says later in the book, Trauma is a memory hog.

Quickly, the reader learns about Nikki's schizophrenic, alcoholic mother; her musician father who feels incapable of raising children; and a childhood full of instability, fears, and abuse. Her only constant was her older sister, Carol, who she adored.

“I have a Ph.D. in avoidance 

We’re all masters of selective memory 

We’re all allergic to pain."

*****

Home was never a safe place.

Forget the guns. 

I was put in a dresser drawer away from the rats.

As a child she realized her mother had a secret life since she talked to invisible people. "Mommy who are you talking to?” was met with,  "Shhh!" and a finger to her lips. 

After her father left, the family temporarily lived with a relative but her sons shot heroin. They moved out, her mother went to work, and the girls were left in the care of a person who locked them in a closet during the day. Nikki was 3, Carol was 8. 

A demon lived inside of us for years in fear of the dark.

When neighbors reported that her mother neglected them, social services took them away. That began a series of foster homes. Some she remembered; she forgot several. One foster mother whipped her and her sister. She and her sister ran away to their grandmother's house; she refused to take them in. 

Did we do something wrong? Is that why no one wants us? 

Anger and I stood together on the train. 

When she was six, she found an oasis of love and peace with the Buchanan's foster family. Although she didn't talk for several days, the family's welcome broke down her distrust. She went to church, started school, and took dance lessons. But she was terrified of the night's darkness. She discovered Psalm 18:28: "You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light," and realized, 

Grace! Outstrips the dark every time.

Early on, she started pouring out her feelings in notebooks; the blank page was her safety.

The writing thing was some kind of magic. 
But magicians rarely share their secrets.

Although she grew to love the Buchanan family, she yearned for Carol and wrestled with not hearing from her parents.

Why did mom love liquor more than us? 
Why didn’t they love us?

When someone explained that her mother had a nervous breakdown she asks, How can nerves break? She is told that her mother doesn't know what's real and what's not, and Nikki remembered her mother's imaginary friends. 

When she overheard a relative at a picnic say that Mr. and Mrs. B always took in strays, Nikki realized, This beautiful family was only borrowed.

She found a picture of herself in the Buchanan family album when she was nine.  She had settled in and let her guard down. Then her mother called. She was remarried and wanted Nikki to join them. 

“I had to go. How could I say no? One mother is all that you get. I wasn’t ready to give up on her yet."

The city scared her, it was difficult always changing schools mid-term. This time, her mother deliberately kept her father away and spent more time in politics and civil rights than with her. But Nikki moved in any way--what choice did she have? She quickly learned that in Brooklyn you have to join a gang for protection. When she is singed with a cigarette butt, her mother doesn't ask about the bandage. Nikki writes,

Why does she avoid dark and painful things? 
Who taught her to pretend? 

There were gangs on every corner, danger her mother refused to see, and the Brooklyn Library became her refuge. 

My life is like musical chairs. 
Every time the music plays, I have to move. 

When her mother started talking to herself again, she feared that “this stuff” was in her. 

God, please don’t let insanity be my inheritance.

Both her father and stepfather were useless. Nikkie took the situation into her hands; she was a kid who had to get her mother hospitalized. 

Every damn episode wore another hole in my soul.

She entered puberty and was alarmed when boys and her stepfather eyed her funny. She hated the changes in her body. Her sister moved in but didn't stay; Nikki didn't realize why Carol left until after “my mother’s monster” raped her. No amount of showers or notebook entries could take her pain away. In the same way that her mother didn't want to hear the truth about the neighborhood gangs, Nikki knew her mother would be no help against her step-father's abuse.

Her pent up anger terrified her. She learned to vocalize and to translate her feelings into words on the page.

I knew writing could take me places. 
But writing was a lonely place. 

Although her mother discounted her writing talent, at thirteen Nikki performed her first reading with Harlem poets. She was nervous, but her father affirmed her talent. He said, 

Explore every art form. You can be whatever you want.
......

My father fed me books and art by blacks. 
It left me dreaming of what books I might bring into the world.

After going to the Copacabana with her father she thinks, Not all stars in the firmament are white.

Nikki's faith does not break in spite of the many difficulties she faces. At one point she writes,

How can I not believe in God? 
If it weren’t for Him I’d be in prison or the grave.

As I mentioned, Nikki narrates the book herself. The only time her voice wavered was when she read about the car accident in which her father lost his life. He had promised to see her Easter morning and she blamed herself for him driving too late at night to get home in time. She felt powerless in the face of death.

Why did the one parent who knew my heart have to die? 

Here is an audio snippet to give you a flavor of the book.

*****

This is a powerful memoir that I recommend for mature teens as well as for adults. Nikki Grimes has taken the fragments of her life-- "scattered memories"--and pieced them together into an amazing volume of poetry. Teens who have known abuse will find comfort in reading this book and knowing that they are not alone. Teens who have grown up in safety should gain empathy by reading or listening to Ordinary Hazards. 


GIVEAWAY

I have a code that you can use to download this book for one of you. Leave me a comment by 6 PM on June 13th to enter the giveaway; please make sure to leave your email address if you are new to my blog. Share this on social media or start following my blog and I'll enter your name twice. 

Run to the Light by Laura King Edwards: Cover Reveal and Giveaway

Congratulations to Donna Earnhardt who won a copy of OOPHAR THE BLUE from last week's blog.

Run to the Light 

“I cried all the time back in 2006, when we learned Taylor has infantile Batten disease. Somewhere along the way, my life before Batten disease dropped out of sight in the rear-view mirror. I cried less and less. Mostly, I stayed angry. I’m still angry, which is good in a way, because it makes me want to fight like hell. Sadness doesn’t get me anywhere. Lately, I’m feeling worn down, so the sadness is back. When I feel it creep into the corners of my eyes, I run if possible. I love to run for many reasons, one of which is that it makes me feel powerful. Each time my ruined feet and ankles pound against the pavement, I beat back the tide. Mostly, it’s working. I cry very little, but when I do—it’s epic.”

Laura King Edwards
2017

SYNOPSIS

After graduating from college, Laura King Edwards has it all: a great job in marketing, a loving family, a new husband, and a house in her hometown of Charlotte, where she can watch her seven-year- old sister Taylor grow up. But one month after her wedding, Edwards and her family receive shocking news: Taylor has Batten disease. A rare, fatal, genetic disease that will cause Taylor to go blind, suffer seizures, and lose the ability to walk and talk. There is no cure. Edwards thought she’d get to watch her baby sister grow up, but instead she’ll get to watch her die.

Unwilling to take “there is no cure” for an answer, Edwards founds a charity with family and friends, Taylor’s Tale, to save children with the disease. Meanwhile, Taylor starts running with Girls on the Run, completing her first 5K race blind with the help of a sighted guide. Inspired, Edwards, a lifelong runner, begins running in half marathons to raise money and awareness. And to run away from the pain. 

Taylor’s Tale becomes the world leader in the fight against Taylor’s form of Batten disease, but the charity can’t work quickly enough to save Taylor. Stripped of her faith, Edwards falls into a dark despair. But Taylor’s unwavering courage in the face of certain death gives Edwards a renewed sense of purpose to turn her family’s tragedy into an opportunity—to ensure others won’t have to suffer, as her sister has suffered.  

Run to the Light is Edwards’s inspiring account of how she found the courage to face indescribable loss, and of what it means to really believe. 

INTERVIEW

Can you please share a little about Taylor and your journey?

I was 16 when Taylor was born. I already had an 11-year-old brother and didn’t want anything to do with a baby sister. But the moment I met Taylor, I fell in love. 

2006

My sister was beautiful, energetic, smart and healthy — perfect in every way. When I was in college, I used to come home from Chapel Hill on the weekends to spend time with her. But when she was about 7, she started losing her vision and struggling in school. When Taylor was diagnosed with infantile Batten disease my world was shattered. But for the next decade-plus, Taylor’s resiliency inspired me to fight like a bulldog to save her life and those of others like her. 

2007

2016

Tell us about your memoir, Run to the Light. 

I wrote hundreds of short stories before I studied fiction writing in college, but I never planned to write a memoir. In 2006, I was a recent graduate working on a young adult novel when Taylor was diagnosed with Batten disease. My once-healthy sister lost her vision, and her ability to walk, talk, and swallow food. She suffers from seizures and will lose her life at a young age. Yet Taylor always showed the rest of us how to be brave.

Not long after the diagnosis, Taylor’s Tale become the world’s leading charity in the fight against infantile Batten disease, championing historic legislation and groundbreaking, potentially lifesaving research. Despite our success, I’ve struggled at times to accept the fact that I still have to watch my little sister die. 

I wrote Run to the Light after going through a particularly rough time. In 2013, as Taylor fell deeper into the rabbit hole, I lost my will to move forward or my ability to believe in anything good. Then one day, I realized that to survive, I had to learn to “see” the world like Taylor, who never faced her illness with anything less than courage. 

For five months, I trained to become a “blind” runner. That fall, I returned to the same course where my sister ran her first race and completed the half marathon – blindfolded. 

Run to the Light isn’t about Batten disease. It isn’t even about running. Instead, Run to the Light is about how to believe, even if “believe” doesn’t mean what you once thought. It’s about turning a loss into a legacy. 

I wrote this book as a love letter to my little sister and to raise awareness of Batten disease. But I hope it also serves as a testament to the strength of the human spirit. I hope it helps readers find the courage to face whatever they’re fighting in their own lives.

How did running blindfolded help you write the book? 

Before I ran blindfolded, I was at such a low point that I wasn’t just worried about my sister’s survival — I was also worried about my own. It was difficult to wake up each day and find joy or even interest in anything when I knew my once vibrant, healthy sister was dying. 

When I ran “blind,” I had to rely much more on all of my other senses — hearing, touch, smell and even taste (when I ran blindfolded, I could tell a storm was coming by the taste of the breeze). This new perspective helped me recognize the good in a bad situation, too. 

Running blindfolded gave me the will to survive and energized me to capture and share my sister’s amazing story beyond blog posts, social media and public talks. Not long after the race ended, I knew I wanted to write this book. 

Do you have any recommendations to other writers who think about writing a story that is close to their heart? 

If you feel called to share your personal story, don’t hesitate. Focus on getting the words on paper rather than worrying about where the project is headed or if other people will want to read it. True stories have a life of their own, sometimes even more than fictional ones. Let go of all of your inhibitions, and just write.  

Laura and Taylor at their brother's wedding, 2017

*********

Now for the drum roll.... here is the cover!

Photo by Rusty Williams.
Rusty took the picture on a side street
in Myers Park off Queens Road West, the site of one of the last scenes in the book.

GIVEAWAY

Run to the Light is coming out November, 2018. I'll be reviewing Laura's book on my blog in the fall. Leave your name and email address and I'll start a giveaway list now. Leave it again when I review the book and your name will be entered twice. 

TED TALK

Behind the Scenes of Prisoner B-3087

Last week I reviewed Alan Gratz's acclaimed Holocaust book, Prisoner B-3087. Today, Alan generously agreed to answer questions about what this book has meant to him both professional and personally.

CAROL: I understand Scholastic contacted you first, to see if you were interested in writing this book. Can you share what went into that decision making process for you?

ALAN: Yes, Scholastic approached me. Jack and his wife Ruth took his story to Scholastic, and they immediately saw that it would make a great book. But neither Jack nor Ruth are writers, so Scholastic asked me to write the book. Once I heard Jack’s account of his time in the camps, I couldn't resist—it was such an incredible story! In particular, I liked that he survived. So many stories of the Holocaust of course did not end so well. And I knew that for writing middle grade, that would be important.

CAROL: What was you process for writing the book? I assumed you interviewed Jack at least once.

ALAN: I worked on the book for a while before I ever met Jack in person, using what he and his wife had told Scholastic about his experiences in World War II and doing a lot of research on the concentration camps on my own. Then, about halfway through writing the first draft, I got to fly to New York and meet Jack. We spent the afternoon at the Holocaust Museum in Manhattan, where some artifacts of Ruth's time during the war are on display.

Jack's memory isn't what it once was, and he wasn't able to remember the answers to some of the questions I had for him. But later, when he read my first draft of the book, a lot of things came back to him. I think he needed the world of the book to help jog his memory. Writing this book became a real process of discovery as Jack and I uncovered some memories he didn't know he had. I'm pleased that I was able to write something that brought the past to life again for him, even if a great deal of that past was painful.

CAROL What did you do next? I assumed you consulted other books on the Holocaust. Or did you interview other survivors? What stands out as the most helpful "other" source of information? 

ALAN: I didn't interview other survivors, but I did read more accounts of the Holocaust--both academic and personal. I think the personal accounts were the most useful. It's the details I was looking for, not the general history. Specific things that happened to people. Events I could use to show real things that happened in the Holocaust. The reality was horrific enough without having to make things up.

CAROL: This is a novel and you make it clear in the back that it is a work of fiction. I don't know if you are able to distill how you wove together Jack's story with other information about the Holocaust, but your process interests me. How did you know when to take liberties with Jack's story? Perhaps an example or two might be helpful.

ALAN: Almost everything that happens to Jack in the book is real. But as I said before, Jack's memory isn't what it once was, and Scholastic really wanted us to see each of the ten camps Jack went to. And of course as a writer, I didn't want to just see them, I wanted something important to happen in each one. So while I had amazing stories from Jack's actual experience to put in--like hiding under the floorboards from Amon Goeth, or dealing with Moonface the kapo again and again, or watching the boy Fred die, or almost dying and then being tattooed at Birkenau--there were other times where I needed to fill in the blanks in Jack's memory. He remembered being at the salt mines, but not much more than the statues there. So I added, from reading another survivor's account, the scene where Jack sees the murdered body of a Jew who worked with the Nazis in the Krakow ghetto. Later, Jack remembered being at Bergen Belsen, but didn't have a specific story to tell about that experience. I had Jack see the "zoo" they kept at that the concentration camp, where the animals were fed better than the prisoners. Again, if something happens TO Jack, it's a good bet it really happened to him. It's the stuff he just sees and witnesses that I sometimes added, as I say in the back of the book, to give a fuller and more complete vision of the Holocaust. This was, after all, a book we expected to be used in Holocaust studies in schools.

CAROL: Do you consider this a collaborative work? Did Jack read any of your drafts and/or have input into them?

ALAN: As I said, Jack and his wife Ruth did read the drafts, and they gave me feedback on them. But I really did all the writing. Their input was more to get the details right. Part of the discovery was big things, but sometimes it was just small details. When I first interviewed him, Jack didn't remember the street he grew up on. When I chose one of the few streets in the Krakow ghetto then to be his home street for the story, he read that and immediately remembered that it wasn't right--and then DID remember the correct street. It was an odd book to write in that way--it was like the character I was writing would pop up every now and then and tell me, "No! Wait! That's not how it really happened!"

CAROL Have you done any public appearances with Jack?

ALAN: Jack and I filmed a video for Scholastic, which went on a DVD shown to students before releasing them into the Scholastic Book Fairs at their schools. But we haven't done any public appearances together. He's in New York, and I'm in North Carolina. Jack and Ruth both used to do a lot of school visits, telling their stories of survival, but they're both much older now and have a harder time traveling. I do a lot of school visits in Jack's stead now, carrying the torch for him and his story to a new generation.

CAROL: How has writing this book affected you both personally and professionally?

ALAN: Personally, spending time with Jack and his story and the world of the Holocaust has made me appreciate what I have--food on the table, a roof over my head, my family, my freedom--so much more. It's so easy to get wrapped up in day-to-day First World Problems and think the world is falling apart around you. All I have to do is think about how Jack's world really DID fall apart around him, how he lost EVERYTHING, even his name, his very identity, and it puts things into real perspective.

Professionally, PRISONER B-3087 has been a huge book for me. We've already sold more than a quarter of a million copies--most of those through the Scholastic Book Fairs--which makes it easily my best-selling and most widely-read book. It's been nominated for a dozen state awards, and its won three of them. I get two or three letters from student readers every week, and all of them clamor for me to write more books about World War II. Which is exactly what Scholastic wants too! I just turned in the first draft of a book about an Irish boy who is a spy in Nazi Germany in World War II as a part of the Hitler Youth, and I'm busy developing another book about the war. I will be very happy if my career becomes writing middle grade World War II historical fiction if kids keep begging to read more!

It's hard to keep up with all of Alan's books. His most recent novel, Code of Honor was just released. I'm currently reading The League of Seven, a steampunk/alternate history fantasy which won the 2015 SIBA Young Adult Book Award. Look for my review in a few weeks. And maybe a giveaway... although I think I have to save my autographed copy for my grandkids! 

Primary Lessons: A Memoir by Sarah Bracey White

“As an African-American child growing up in the segregated pre-Civil Rights South, Sarah Bracey White pushed against the social conventions that warned her not to rock the boat, even before she was old enough to fully understand her urge to defy the status quo. In her candid and poignant memoir, Primary Lessons, White recalls a childhood marked by equal measures of poverty and pride—formative years spent sorting through the “lessons” learned from a complicated relationship with her beloved, careworn mother and from a father’s absence engendered by racial injustice and compromised manhood.” (Press release from CavanKerry Press) 

 

Photo taken in 1963 at Sarah's Debutante Cotillion, age 17

I don’t normally quote a press release when introducing a book, but I couldn’t improve on this synopsis of Sarah Bracey White’s memoir. I first “met” Sarah in the pages of Childrenof the Dream: Our Own Stories of Growing Up Black in America. After reading about her experiences as a Sumter, South Carolina teen working in a camp for wealthy New England girls, I friended her on Facebook and told her about my work-in-progress. She promptly sent me a copy of her memoir which, has since helped fuel writing Half-Truths. I think Sarah's memoir is best revealed in her own words.

The city buses are a sore spot for me. We don’t have a car, and I seldom have a dime to ride the one that travels from Liberty Street downtown to the shopping area. Even if I did, I wouldn’t want to ride the bus because I hate sitting at the back. Maybe we are poor, but even if we had extra money, it wouldn’t change the thing I hate most: the fear colored adults exhibit toward white people, even white children. (p. 127)

Sarah with her family (minus her father). She's the young lady in front,
about nine years old.

At one point their small house is vandalized. Sarah writes,

Even though we had nothing of value, it’s frightening to think that strangers have spent the day in our house—on my bed. Why had they picked our house? Would they come back?... Why had they smashed them [the figurines]? Were they angry because they found no money or valuables? Whoever they were, they had to be colored. White boys stood out too much in a colored neighborhood to consider mischief like this. (p. 131)

Sarah's home in Sumter, SC

 She recalls the role of supportive teachers:

Maybe my teachers like me because they can see that I’m an outsider, trying to fit into a life I don’t want. Or maybe they like me because they like my mama and know the hardships she endures. Whatever the reasons, my teachers are a source of comfort. They give me approval and confidence. By the time I reach high school, they no longer tell me to stop talking so much. In fact, they encourage my outspokenness and open doors that make it possible for me to use my gifts in ways that benefit me. (p. 142)

Sarah writes: "Lincoln Jr./Sr. High School on Council Street. Here, I learned the basics that allowed me to reach higher ground. It was also the place where teachers and classmates quenched my thirst.This school was not integrated until 1971."

In an unusually frank conversation her mother admitted,  

"Mama. . . Still young and hopeful. Roberta Bracey White"

“The people in this town. They always said I wasn’t good enough for your daddy. He came from a fine respectable family, and I came from nothing. They used to say my real daddy was a white doctor who my mama worked for. 

I’m shocked by Mama’s confession. “Is it true?” I ask. 

“I don’t know. I was always scared to ask my mama about it. When I was about ten, I went over to the doctor’s house and hid behind a tree until he came home. I wanted to see if I looked like him.” 

“Did you?” 

“Not one bit! I didn’t look like my daddy either.” Mama pauses. Her eyes glaze, and she sighs deeply. “I loved my daddy. He used to call me his sunshine. Said I was the light of his life and that it was my job to banish the darkness. I never understood what he meant by that. I love the darkness. In the darkness, I’m the same color as everybody else.” (p. 164-5)

When Sarah asked her mother why she didn’t move north like her siblings did, her mother replied, “When you move out of the south you leave your past behind. The only thing that counts up north is how much you got in your pocket. Everybody up north is running away from their past. The past is all I’ve got."

Sarah wrote, "Today I feel like she has exposed the rusty chain that holds her prisoner in Sumter." (p. 165-6)

"My mother, the teacher"

When Sarah is getting ready to make her debut she considers, 

Until those cotillion classes, I’d only been given instructions on what not to do. A long list of restrictions seemed to say that I was the problem, that my only for survival was to be invisible. But I don’t want to be invisible. I want to stand above the crowd and shine. That’s not the life plan for young colored girls like me. Yet being selected as a debutante has nurtured a rustling hope inside me. Maybe, just maybe, I can escape my fate.(p. 176)

At the cotillion she thinks,

Tonight the fact that we're colored doesn't matter. Tonight I feel like a princess, smiled upon and feted by people I respect and who respect me. Tonight I'm more than just another poor little colored girl living in the shadows. I'm filled with the infinite possibilities of who I can become. (p.179)

Sadly, two weeks after that special evening, Sarah's mother suddenly dies. At the funeral Sarah looks at her mother and thinks, "She looks more peaceful now than she ever looked alive." (p.197)

Sarah has no choice but to continue carrying out her plans. In 1963, she works as kitchen help in Vermont before entering college and receives an education:

When I ask Mrs. Lee [the woman who supervises the help] why we can't ride the horses or swim in the lake she smiles sadly and says, "We're the help, and the help doesn't mingle with the campers." Up north, it seems segregation is a matter of class and skin color. 

Despite my anger at these restrictions, I am shamelessly curious about the campers. Never before have I been in such close proximity to so many white people. Daily it gets easier to eavesdrop on their conversations as they grow used to our brown presence and we become about as significant as the pine trees. No one worries about a pine tree hearing secrets. Soon I learn that white skin brings no solace from problems, that money doesn't ensure smooth boy-girl relationships or prevent sadness and heart ache. I also learn that white girls are cruel to other white girls. I had always assumed that whites were only cruel to colored people. I'm especially shocked to learn that white girls openly envy one another's looks. Almost every girl wants to be blond (I always thought long hair of any color was beautiful) and that every white girl would die for a perfect tan. I don't understand why they want to have skin like ours if they don't like colored people. (p.224)

In another conversation with Mrs. Lee Sarah questions why the white counselors make more money than she does, even though they are all "college girls." 

Mrs. Lee shrugs, just the way Mama used to. "That's how life is," she says. 

I can't understand why adults accept everything. Just because that's the way it's always been doesn't mean that that's the way it should always be. When I get to be an adult, I'm gonna change things. (p.225)

************

Sarah is now the executive director of arts and culture in the town of Greensburgh, NY and teaches at the Hudson Valley Writers Center.  For more information about how Sarah is busy "changing things," please visit her website. 

Sumter County Library Author's Fair
January, 2015

"Finally, a seat at the lunch counter."
Sarah writes, "Places like this [a previously segregated lunch counter in Sumter, SC, ] are always a disappointment to me. We weren't missing anything. ….I wanted to see and document. I spoke with the two black women who have worked here for years."  November, 2013