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Mama's Chicken & Dumplings Gets Some Love

4/19/2025

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So happy to share that MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS has gotten some kidlit love lately! The Children's Book Council selected it as a 2025  Librarian's Favorite Award for third-fifth graders Complete list HERE.
The March 2025 issue of The Horn Book gave it a shout-out along with seven other novels, saying that it was a great read for intermediate and/or middle-school readers who enjoy imagining what it was like to live through various times in the past. Read the full article, "(Re)visiting the Past." HERE.
 The Omaha Public Library chose it as an Omaha Pick, placing it on their curated list "Historical Fiction That's Not WWII." FInd it HERE. And the Morton Grove Public Library called it a Recommended Read for kids!
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Welcome, Michael F. Stewart, Kidlit Creator!

3/12/2025

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(c) Caroline McPherson, carolinemcphersonillustration.com

Welcome, Michael F. Stewart, Kidlit Author

​How did your love for being a kidlit creator begin?  

My first chance to write for kids was when I responded to a call for authors from an educational publisher. I wrote four graphic novels for them: a sports, a thriller, a fantasy, and a mystery. Talk about lucky! I’ve always loved reading and never really grew out of kids books and YA, and then I had four kids of my own and haven't felt the need ever to progress past young adult, at least in mindset.


You've written so many types of books for kids, from chapter books to novels in verse, from the silly to the intense. Despite their dissimilarities, how would you say they share the same essence, theme, thread, or universal truth?

In truth, they don’t all share the same themes. Every book changes me a bit and the world changes too. If I could point to two key themes I return to, it would be 'the meaning of life' and 'technology' and the intersection of these. How does technology shape us? Where do the dangers and opportunities lie? Beyond that, I'd have to say I write a lot about mental health as way of coming to understand the challenges of our sometimes wonky and fascinating minds. 

From one wonky mind to another, I'd say those are very important things to address!
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(c) Caroline McPherson, carolinemcphersonillustration.com
How did you and Kelly find each other?
I went to a 'How to get an agent' seminar in which Kelly was a panelist and submitted after. A few months later, the seminar worked! I think it helped that we had both attended the Vermont College of Fine Art's MFA, Writing for Children and Young Adults (which is fabulous!).

​True proof that well-written queries work! Why do you enjoy working with Kelly?
So many reasons! Kelly has an incredible gut instinct that I have come to trust. She’s full of great ideas on how to improve my projects, while always being supportive and diligent with her notes. She brings the crew together and cares for us and our progress. Most importantly, she communicates. We have these magical spreadsheets, which she updates with new submissions, passes, and the reasons for the pass, with thoughts on what we can do better or change to ensure our best chances of a yes.

She is a team builder with her clients, to be sure! Okay...last question. Why do you have a cat on your head? Is said kitty alive and well?

Cat? What cat? Please do not make fun of my custom toupee. :) Okay, jk, so that is a very rare cat. You've heard of a thinking cap? This is a thinking cat. When I'm really struggling, it's useful to put the thinking cat on my head and consider what I'm doing with my life. I've tried a thinking dog but results were mixed.

It's nice to know how supportive your cat is of your creative endeavors! Hopefully she purrs when she senses your ideas are good! Well, Mike, thanks for coming by, and for sharing a little about your kidlit journey. Wishing you, your feline friend, and your works of the pen my very bestest!

Thank you, Dionna, for inviting me to chat with you.
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Michael F. Stewart has authored over two dozen books for kids and young adults. With works ranging from interactive digital epics and graphic novels to humorous middle grade and surreal young adult novels, several of which have won their fair share of accolades. Michael enjoys stretching the limits on his storytelling and working with other authors young and old to tell their stories. He has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in Ottawa with his partner, four daughters, a cat, and a dog. To learn more about Michael and his next projects visit his website michaelfstewart.com. You can connect with him on Bluesky @openmike.bsky.social, and on Instagram @mfstewart. 
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Introducing Heather Mullaly, Kidlit Author

3/9/2025

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(c) Collen Muske,  colleenmuske.com

Welcoming Heather Mullaly, Kidlit Author!

Salutations, Heather! Thank you for allowing me to interview you about your kidlit journey!

Thank you for the invite!

My pleasure! So when did you realize you wanted to write for young readers?

For a long time, writing was a hobby. I wrote whatever brought me joy. It was only when I had a story that I wanted to share with the world that I started paying attention to categories. That story was YA, so I set out to learn about writing for young readers.

Right about that time, I was at the YMCA when a total stranger got on the elliptical machine beside mine and started talking to me. This was not normal behavior for this gym. But she couldn’t contain her excitement because her first picture book was being released in four days. We struck up a conversation about writing and kidlit and I begrudgingly admitted that I was working on a YA novel. She told me about the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the regional conference that was taking place locally in a few weeks. I don’t believe in coincidence. So, I went to my first SCBWI conference.

How serendipitous is that! Did you enjoy the conference?

I loved spending three days talking about kids’ books, about the process of writing them, about the joy of reading them, and about the impact they can have on a young reader’s life. And I loved the community. When I came home, I announced to my family, “I have found my people.” And I never looked back.

SCBWI folks really know how to lift others up and cheer each other on, to be sure. Though your first book was for young adults, you now write for middle-grade readers, too. Do you approach each project differently in order to keep the target audience in mind?

For me, stories always begin with the main character. I play with ideas, but if I don’t connect with the main character, they never make it to the drafting phase. My middle grade main characters tend to come to me with clear personalities and straight forward goals. My young adult main characters take more coaxing and are often unclear about what they truly want. Their lives are more complicated, and their stories reflect that. The main character determines the target audience and the feel of the book.

Are your YA stories vastly different from your MG novels?

All of my stories have what people tell me is a dry sense of humor. That said, my middle-grade, The Legend of Hobart, which is a fairy tale, has a very different feel from Life and Other Complications, which is a contemporary YA novel about a teen living with HIV.
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​(c) Collen Muske,  colleenmuske.com
Interesting process! It certainly proves the point that a good story no matter the category always begins with character. So how did you snag your literary agent, Kelly Dyksterhouse, who is my amazing kidlit literary agent, too?
 
Kelly is amazing! We found each other through my long-time writing mentor, Sarah Aronson, who recommended Kelly to me. She knew Kelly from conferences and by reputation (Sarah is friends with Kellye Crocker who is another Kelly Dyksterhouse client.) Sarah felt that Kelly would be a good fit for me and my funny middle grade novel. So I queried Kelly Dyksterhouse. She loved the project, and the rest has been history.

I love funny reads, and can't wait to read yours when it comes out! What are you working on now?

My current work-in-progress is a younger YA about a girl who wants to join the Malacks, an order of elite warriors who swear their allegiance to the people of the Koros Sea rather than a particular kingdom or ruler. I took the project to the Highlights Foundation Whole Novel Workshop and am now in the midst of my first major rewrite. It’s been a lot of fun.

Sounds like it would be! Well, Heather, thanks so much for stopping by. It's been delightful hearing a little bit about your story. Do keep in touch and let us know when your newest releases are hot off the press.

Will do! And thanks again for the invite!
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Heather Mullaly is an award winning author of books for children and teens. A passionate believer in the power of story, when she isn’t writing them, reading them, or listening to them, she can usually be found baking something that involves chocolate, thinking up new story ideas before she’s finished the one she’s currently writing, or hanging out with her family, who happen to be even more fantastic than the characters in her head.  So far her books include: Life and Other Complications, a 2021 Readers’ Favorite Silver Medalist; The Legend of Hobart, a Kirkus Best Book of 2021; and Hobart’s Second Quest, which will be releasing next month!
Preorder HERE for your chance to win some cool stuff! You can find Heather, who is represented by Kelly Dyksterhouse of The Tobias Literary Agency, at heathermullaly.com.
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Welcome, Kidlit Agent Kelly Dyksterhouse!

3/9/2025

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(c)Colleen Muske, colleenmuske.com

Kelly Dyksterhouse, Kidlit Literary Agent

Salutations! Kelly, thanks for coming by!

You're welcome!

I would especially love to know how you found your way to becoming a kidlit agent. 
 
Really, the way I found myself into being an agent, first at Raven Quill Literary Agency founded by Jacqui Lipton, goes back to what we’ve always tried to teach our kids: whatever you do, do to the best of your ability with a constant willingness to learn, and doors will be opened to you. That is how I’ve tried to live, and while my road to becoming a literary agent was unexpected, each step led organically to the next, landing me where I am today. 

So what were those steps?

I knew I loved kidlit, both reading and writing it, so in 2014, I got my MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. My goal was to both hone my writing craft and to earn a degree that would give me a skill so that I could work once my kids were out of the house. At the time, I was thinking I’d write and teach writing and children’s literature at the college level. While at VCFA, I interned at The Bent Agency, reading slush, full manuscripts and refining my editorial skills. I later followed Susan Hawk to Upstart Crow, where I worked as an assistant and editorial reader and really learned all things agent-y. I was very content working for Susan—I was doing everything I loved: editing, teaching, reading, working with people. I got to work with writers, help them develop their manuscripts from idea to polished draft, and eventually saw their books on the shelves. The job was (is) a perfect blend of left brain/right brain, which suits me great!

But I still hadn’t considered agenting myself until Jacqui approached me and asked me to join her at Raven Quill. At this point, I’d had several years working in literary agencies, and Susan was incredibly encouraging that it was time I made the leap to taking on my own clients. I took a couple of months to think and interview agents whose practices I really admired, and was thrilled to join forces with Jacqui at Raven Quill in 2020. Then, when Jacqui's agency moved in with The Tobias Literary Agency in 2022, I moved in too, and that's where we both are today. 

Are you enjoying being an agent?

I’m having the time of my life! So there you have it: proof that good things can happen despite the crazy times in which we live.
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(c) Colleen Muske, colleenmuske.com
What type of books/clients do you represent?

I think the books I am most drawn to walk the line between commercial and literary. In other words, they have a big hook and ask big questions. I love books that have that holy trinity of amazing character/engaging plot/compelling voice. All of that can happen in any genre for any age group. I have clients that achieve it in PB, CB, MG and YA, both fiction and non-fiction in all genres.

In terms of new clients, my ideal client is someone who is never done learning and who is willing to take a risk and try new things--whether that be in yet another draft of the same book or in taking the leap into another kind of writing. I think that a true writer is someone who is always growing their craft.

As a children's book writer, what type of books do you enjoy penning? How do you juggle the role of writer and agent?

Oh, this is a great question! One I am still trying to find the answer to. I have several of my own projects in the works at various stages. I write mostly MG, I think because that’s the age I was when books really made a big impression on me. I will get into a great writing groove--I’m most productive first thing in the morning--and then a client project will come in, or be ready to go out on sub, and I will lose my own momentum. I have a very hard time focusing on myself if someone I’ve committed to needs my attention. But I am learning to give a bit of grace to myself and find productivity in that ebb and flow. 

I think your clients would understand! Does one skill set (writer/agent) inform the other?

Yes, I do think that writing informs my skill as an editor. Absolutely. It’s the difference between understanding something at a purely academic level and the deeper understanding that comes from truly experiencing it. Also, I think it helps me relate to my clients better. I understand what it means to be stuck, how hard it is to cut a character you love, how messy that middle can be. And mostly, how excruciating the waiting game is and demoralizing rejection can be. I think this deeper understanding makes me a better advocate and cheerleader.

That you do amazingly well! Thanks for stopping by, Kelly. I really enjoyed your visit.

I enjoyed being here!
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​Kelly Dyksterhouse, literary agent with The Tobias Literary Agency, grew up with a book always in her hands and a story always in her head. The important role that books played in her early years developed into a passion for children’s literature in her adult life. Kelly holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults for Vermont College of Fine Arts and has interned as an editorial reader at leading literary agencies and worked as an independent developmental editor and writing mentor. She considers the opportunity to help bring books into existence to be a great honor, and it is a particular joy for her to work alongside authors as they develop their project from idea to polished manuscript. The best feeling of all is when those manuscripts end up as books in the hands of children. Find Kelly online at  kellydyksterhouse.com.
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This post was updated from one that appeared here in September of 2020
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My library system is the best!

1/7/2025

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James Madison Regional Library--my library system--is the absolute best! And I'm not just saying it because they hosted my book launch, and now have a place for six copies of my debut novel for young readers, MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS, on their shelves at five different branches. (Four copies of my book are checked out right now, BTW, which totally rocks my kidlit socks!)

My love for my library system is not new. I've loved it since my branch was a tiny thing that had its card catalog stuffed neatly inside cabinet drawers, and due date cards were stamped and placed inside envelopes on the inside of book covers. (I even remember when my local branch got its first computer that went onto the internet via a telephone line! BURRRRWEEEEEWOOO...)

My first library card is probably considered an antique. (And yes, I cried when I thought I lost it.)

Back in the 90s, the highlight of my week was pushing my two daughters in their double stroller down to my branch to check out new books. (Though sometimes, we checked out the same book over and over again.) How I loved our summers when we could enjoy being entertained by some of the best storytellers ever--for free. My kids never minded the cramped and hot conditions of the kids section where the storytellers performed.

Throughout the decades, my librarians and I have known one another by name. We've talked about my writing long before I was published. They've helped me locate rare books through interlibrary loans when I was doing research. They've listened to me when I hit a writing journey roadblock. They've been a huge part of my kidlit community. Even now they're cheering me on!

Seeing that JMRL red sticker on the spine of my project of the heart, smack dab next to books written by Patricia MacLachlan and Kekla Magoon--well, that's the butter cream icing on top of my debut-year-cake. YUM! 
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Do you have a library system that you love? Share your story in the comments below.  
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The 24/7s Say Farewell to a Very Good Year

1/1/2025

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My Debut Group

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The seven traditionally published middle-grade books authored by my debut group The 24/7s received stellar industry reviews, were on end-of-the-year best book lists, and were selected as JLG Gold Selections! 
​WOOT for the group! Check out all of our interviews at The 24/7s. 

Our Books

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Mama's Chicken & Dumplings: The Setting

12/30/2024

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​Being a rewriter more than anything else, I’d become used to applying the advice “Kill your darlings.” In fact, while writing Mama’s Chicken and Dumplings, my debut novel for young readers, Delete, Cut, and Trash had been my chairside friends for ten (count them TEN) years.

My attempts to get this story right, one revised page atop another, could likely reach the Space Station! So you can imagine, I was in no mood to murder any more darlings once Margaret Ferguson Books offered to acquire it. And yet, there I was, a contract before me with the caveat: You're willing to revise, yes? 

And so there I sat with the Revision Guillotine above my words yet again. And the first beloved darling on the chopping block was the story’s setting of 1941 on the South Side of Chicago (after my main character’s move from Harlem). 
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​My setting was precious because I was born on the South Side, and it's where my parents grew up. My opening scene is even based on a South Side recollection of my mother's, and I had scattered other scenes based on stories my parents had shared with me about growing up on the South Side throughout my yarn. The setting also gave me an excuse to research Chicago's African American history, which I really enjoyed. It brought me great satisfaction resurrecting the glitz and glamour that once was 47th Street—the business heartbeat of the South Side.
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S niff-sniff… rest in peace 1941 Chicago—see you in another manuscript.

Though murdering my setting caused me a great deal of mourning, I was able to keep its essence by replacing it with another thriving African American community, albeit a smaller, Southern one located within Charlottesville, Virginia, called Vinegar Hill. The year 1941 became 1935, but only because I wanted to keep a scene involving a kid “flipping” a streetcar (AKA—riding on the back by hanging onto the outside rails), and Charlottesville’s streetcar service stopped in 1935. 

And you know what? Despite the labor pain of having to research a new cityscape of the past, I came to love my new setting even more than my old one! I loved the small-town Southern city feel. I loved learning about the real people who persevered for the sake of the children. I loved that I could walk down some of the same streets my character would have walked. Vinegar Hill absolutely served the storyline of a ten-year-old on a quest to find her mama a husband with a Man-for-Mama plan in one hand and a jar of chicken and dumplings in the other. And by not having my main character move from one city to another, her conflict with her NOT-friend Gwen could be moved up in the plotline.

True, there was a domino-plot-effect with my setting change. It required the reconstruction of nearly the entire novel! Truth told, the work it took to get it done left me pulling at my afro, and yelling at my computer. But now that my rewrite of my rewrite of my rewrite times more rewrites has finally been written, I am glad I listened to the sage advice to kill my darlings. Because what remains, I hope, is a story rich with emotional depth, a plot that is logical, and a main character that kids will love. Isn’t that’s what being a writer, er, rewriter is all about?

We murder our darlings for the sake of the story.   
All photos are from 1941 Chicago found in the American Memory digital archive curated by he Library of Congress. The photographer was Edwin Rosskam who worked for the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information . 
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Mama's Chicken & Dumplings: The School

12/17/2024

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Jefferson School, Charlottesville, Virginia

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​Left to right, (front row) Margaret L. Terry, Maude M. Gamble (principal) and Cora B. Duke; (second row) Ella J. Banks, Rebecca Fuller McGinness, Peachie Carr Johnson, Mary Kathleen Chisholm, Carrie W. Michie, and Gertrude Inge; (third row) Nannie Cox Jackson, Marion B. Wyatt, Jane C. Johnson, and Helen E. Jackson.​
I love the above picture so much! It's of ​the faculty of Jefferson School in Charlottesville, Virginia, during the era of segregation, taken as best I could figure during the 1926-7 school year. To me, the image is absolutely beautiful for many reasons. For one, I love the dignity, confidence, and determination these women project on camera. And it's no illusion! They were dignified, confident, and determined on many levels, despite the harsh racial conditions of the times. I found it easy to imagine the African American men of the local area tipping their hats in courtesy as these ladies walked by. My imaginings made me want to write a scene in my middle-grade Mama's Chicken & Dumplings where a gentleman of Vinegar Hill tips his hat out of respect for Allie's best friend, Jewel, while she walks by pretending to be as sophisticated as the ladies in the above image, despite Jewel being only ten years old. 
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Isabella Gibbons
The history of Jefferson School in Charlottesville stretches back to right after the Civil War ended and all those with African descent were freed from the institution of slavery. Anna Gardner, an educator with European decent from Nantucket, an island in Massachusetts, arrived in Charlottesville around 1867. She opened a New England Aid Society's Normal School, which prepared men and women for the task of teaching the newly freed citizens of the area. Later, the school became a Freedmen’s School under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau. Anna named her group of students the Jefferson School. 

One of the first teachers of color at Jefferson School was Isabella Gibbons who had once been enslaved at the University of Virginia. Despite the law of the times, Gibbons had learned to read and write beautifully, and had taught her daughter Bella to do the same. Isabella's husband William Gibbons could also read and write. He became a well-respected Baptist minister after Freedom came.

Jefferson School became a public school of the City of Charlottesville in 1871. Benjamin E. Tonsler was one of the school's earliest principals. He was a beloved member of the community. Many graduates from Jefferson School attended historically Black colleges and universities like Hampton University, and obtained degrees in all types of disciplines, including those in medicine, engineering, and science, even though they had to complete their high school studies outside of Charlottesville since Jefferson School graduated students after the eighth grade. 
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Rebecca Fuller McGinness
The name I chose for Allie's fifth grade teacher was Mrs. McGinness. I chose it out of respect for Rebecca Fuller McGinness, a tireless educator who spent decades teaching at Jefferson School. If you examine the oral histories of those who attended Jefferson School as students, the name Mrs. McGinness often comes up. They mention her as a teacher who inspired them to achieve their personal best. Mrs. McGinness was a graduate of Jefferson School before there was a high school. She finished her studies at Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, now Hampton University, graduating from there with her teaching certification in 1915, and later a bachelor's degree. When she was 100, Hampton gave her an honorary doctorate degree. Mrs. McGinness lived to the ripe age of 107.
PictureCora [Murray Brown] Duke
While I named Allie's principal Mr. Duncan, the real Mr. Duncan--Owen Duncan-- was the principal of Jefferson High School in the 1940s. In 1935, the year Mama's Chicken & Dumplings takes place, Cora B. Duke was the principal of the "Old" Jefferson School--the one that housed grades one through five. Mrs. Duke was known as a woman who put the students' needs ahead of her own. When she retired, the school community threw her a grand celebration thanking her for her educational leadership and community involvement. Doesn't she look grand in her feathered hat in the photo taken in 1915 at the Holsinger Portrait Studio located in Charlottesville? Indeed!
After the building to house Jefferson's junior and high school grades opened on the same campus as the older building in 1927, extracurricular activities for the African-American youth of Charlottesville began to thrive. There was a debate team, science club, marching band, literary clubs, a choir, a dramatic club, and more. For years, Jefferson School's after-school groups were well-known throughout the state as being top performing. They competed against other African American schools located throughout Virginia. Below is the undefeated "Red Devils" football team of 1935.

I really enjoyed imagining Allie playing the flute in the Jefferson School band, vying for first chair. 
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From left to right, (front row) Charles L. Jackson, Lloyd Quarterman, Billy "Goat" Lewis, John Locket, William "Shortie" Brown, Carter "Red" Wicks, Earl "Cap" Fortune, Alfred Bynum, Bernard Dabney; (second row) DuBois Johnson, Raleigh Kelly, William Cox Jackson, Charles "Chink" Lee, Grover Henderson, Carl Johnson, Phillip Sellers, Carol Allen; (third row) Nannie Henderson, Thomas Martin, Edward McCreavy, Beverly "Pep" Thomas; and (standing) Team Physician Edward W. Stratton and Coach James "Wop" Edgar.
The African American community of Charlottesville supported Jefferson School's extra curricular activities by hosting fundraisers, purchasing transportation, and by donating their time and resources. Nannie Cox Jackson was a huge supporter of the football team.

The education and edification of the young ones growing up in the neighborhood was obviously important to the adults living in the once thriving African American community of Charlottesville during the unfair days of Jim Crow. It was my privilege to share that spirit of togetherness while writing Mama's Chicken & Dumplings. 
​Photo Credits
1. Jefferson School yearbook photo. Found in Pride Overcomes Prejudice: A History of Charlottesville’s African American School. Charlottesville, VA: Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, 2013, p. 75.

​2. Isabella Gibbons. Found in "Isabella Gibbons." Cvillepedia, accessed August 14, 2023. 

3. Rebecca Fuller McGinness 1915 Hampton yearbook photo from the collection of the Hampton University Archives, Hampton, VA. Found in Elizabeth Howard Papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.

4. Cora Murray Duke. Photo: Rufus W. Holsinger, 1915. Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Rufus W. Holsinger Studio Collection: MSS Call No. 9862, Image ID: 35479, Negative No., X02970A, accessed August 13. 2023.

5. Jefferson [High] School 1935 Undefeated Football Team Photograph. Photo: Rufus W. Holsinger, 1935. Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Holsinger Collection, UVA Library ID: Y21177BB2, accessed March 13, 2023.

  • While I have diligently sought to establish and contact the copyright owners of these images, I believe their inclusion is within the confines of fair use, and/or that they are in the public domain.
Selected Bibliography
Bryant, Florence Coleman. Rebecca Fuller McGinness: A Lifetime, 1892-2000. Charlottesville, VA: Van Doren Company, 2001.

CVillepedia. “Cora Murray Duke.” Accessed August 13, 2023.
 
Daughters of Zion Cemetery. "Tonsler, Benjamin E." Accessed August 13, 2023.​

Discovery Virginia. “In the Fullness of Time.” Elizabeth Howard Productions. Narrated by Rita Dove. Virginia Humanities Digital Archive, 2004, accessed December 25, 2022.
 
Douglas, Andrea, editor. Pride Overcomes Prejudice: A History of Charlottesville’s African American School. Charlottesville, VA: Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, 2013.
 
Douglas, Andrea and Vincent Musi. “The Jefferson School, a Modern American Story.” LOOK3 2015 Charlottesville Festival of the Photograph presentation, accessed July 31, 2023.

Finger, Jascin Leonardo. “Anna Gardner (1816-1901): Teacher, Abolitionist, Women’s Rights Advocate, Author.” Nantucket Historical Society, accessed March 14, 2023.

"Funeral of Rev. William Gibbons." National Republican, July 2, 1886, Newspapers.com, accessed August 20, 2023.

Jefferson High School Football Team Item Details. Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Holsinger Collection, UVA, accessed August 13, 2023.

Jefferson School City Center. “Jefferson School History.” Accessed March 15, 2023.
 
Jefferson School Oral History Project: Interview Transcripts, Volume One. Albemarle County Historical Society, October 2004, accessed December 25, 2022.
 
Jefferson School Oral History Project: Interview Transcripts, Volume Two. Albemarle County Historical Society, October 2004, accessed December 25, 2022.

Jefferson School Student Handbook. Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Call No.: LD7501.C4J39.

Mangione, Wilma T., Editor. “Recollections of Rebecca McGinness.” From Porch Swings to Patios: An Oral History Project of Charlottesville Neighborhoods, 1914-1980. The City of Charlottesville, 1990, accessed December 25, 2022.

Munro, Julia F. “Cora Murray.” Holsinger Portrait Project, University of Virginia, February 25, 2022, accessed August 13, 2023.
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Mama's Chicken & Dumplings: The Shops

12/17/2024

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Successful Business Owners

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George Minor Carr
The photograph of the above storefront was taken on November 16, 1914. Peek inside and you will see George Minor Carr (1882-1933), shop owner and operator of George M. Carr & Company, just one of many businesses located in Vinegar Hill, a thriving African American residential and business district of Charlottesville, Virginia, that was razed in the 1960s.

True, Mr. Carr's establishment at 269 West Main Street was a second-hand clothing store. But as you can tell from the fine feathered hats for women in the storefront window, and the men's suits hanging inside that it was no rinky-dink establishment. It was someplace African American men and women of the era could purchase clothing to look their finest when walking about town. And how distinguished they looked when posing for a photograph at the Holsinger Portrait Studio!

We know from the J.F. Bell Funereal Home records that George Carr's father, David Carr, had been born in Africa, and that his mother Elnora Garland Carr was born in Virginia. We also discover that George's wife's name was Virginia May Carr. Mr. Carr passed away In 1933. Virginia Carr obviously kept the doors of her husband's business open after his death, for she was listed in the 1934 city director as operating a second-hand clothing store at 265 West Main Street.
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Anthony and Eileen Buckner
On August 12, 1918, Anthony T. Buckner (1846-1923) commissioned the above portrait to be taken with his nine-year-old granddaughter Eileen Wood Buckner (1909-1985). When I learned Eileen's mother, Geneva Tonsler Buckner (1886-1919), would die from tuberculosis a year later on August 29, 1919, while being admitted to the Piedmont Sanitorium in Burkeville, Virginia, it made me wonder: Was Eileen's mother ill when this photo was taken? Was that the reason Mr. Buckner had the photograph made? Surely, an ailing mother would greatly appreciate having a copy of this lovely image.

​Another thing I wondered was how, as a young man, Mr. Buckner endured physically, emotionally, and mentally while serving as an enslaved body servant to Mr. Fife, a Confederate soldier, during the Civil War. What I do know is he survived, and once Freedom came, after working just a few years at the University of Virginia, he had saved enough money to open up a successful general store and grocery at 904 West Main Street in Charlottesville--a fine establishment that remained open until his death in 1923.

How inspiring to see him standing there so tall, refined, and dignified, despite being a survivor of such enduring times!

"Buckner had made a host of friends for himself during his long sojourn in the community and was especially liked by the residents in the University section. Many had formed the custom of stopping in to converse with him as a token of their esteem and the high place he had won for himself." *

Mr. Buckner had five children with his wife, Louisa E. (1860-1909)--three girls and two boys. Unfortunately, all but two of them died when they were very young children. Only his son George Walker Buckner (1886-1928) lived well into adulthood.

George, Eileen's father, grew up in Charlottesville. He attended college, and obtained degrees from Hampton Institute and the Virginia Union University. He worked as a teacher, and economics and sociology instructor at the Tuskegee Institute. Later, he remarried and worked for the National League on Urban Conditions, and then served as the vice president and manager of the People's Finance Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri.

George caused quite a local stir when he wrote an opinion piece entitled "The New Negro" in the February 12, 1921 edition of The Charlottesville Messenger, an African American newspaper. In it he demanded better pay for African-American teachers and the desegregation of streetcars in Charlottesville, among other things. He wrote: "We are tax payers and law abiding citizens. We know our strength and will accept nothing short of justice."
Picture
Inge's Grocery
PictureGeorge P. Inge
In 1890, George Pinkney Inge (1859-1948) purchased the building and lot located at 331-333 West Main Street for $3,000, and in 1891 he opened his grocery store when West Main Street was nothing but a dirt road.

Despite being born into the institution of slavery, Mr. Inge graduated from Hampton Institute in 1879. For a few years, he taught at Jefferson School in Charlottesville. 

Mr. Inge's grocery store was known throughout Charlottesville as a fine establishment. His patrons included the hospital of the University of Virginia, professors of the University, the Gleason Hotel, boarding houses, and fraternities. His store was the only supplier of fresh fish and oysters in the city, which were delivered by way of the C & O Railroad. Small game caught by local hunters; vegetables from the Inge's gardens, and eggs and poultry from their chickens were also sold there. Before the Model T came along, the Inges delivered their produce using a horse-and-buggy.

Children loved to purchase penny candy and five-cent ginger snaps from the glass jars sitting on the store's shelves. My main character's favorite thing to purchase at Mr. Inge's store is Mary Jane candies.
Picture
Inge's Grocery
Mr. Inge and his wife Kate Virginia (Ferguson) Inge (1864-1941) had nine children. They raised them in living quarters attached to the store and required them to pitch in and help run the business. Often, African American visitors to Charlottesville found lodging at the Inges' home. The children often spoke about their father's friend and former Hampton classmate, Booker T. Washington, who stayed with the family whenever the educator and speaker came through Charlottesville. He was one of the Inges' most famous guests.

The Inge children all had successful careers. Three of his daughters were teachers. His sons' occupations included: an educator and high school principal in Texas, a biology department head at Hampton Institute, a New Jersey State Senator, a realtor, and two physicians. Thomas Ferguson Inge, Sr. (1903-1993) ran the store until 1979 along with his son, Thomas Ferguson Inge, Jr.  ​
Picture
Nannie Cox Jackson
PictureViola Green Porter
For decades, Nannie Cox Jackson (1865-1953) was an inspiring domestic science (home economics) teacher at Jefferson School. She taught her students--boys and girls--how to cook, sew, crochet, and knit so they could live respectably and independently.
​
How proud Mrs. Jackson's students must have been to be able to design and sew their own dresses like the eighth-grade graduation dress Viola Green Porter (1898-1985) is seen wearing in the photograph to the right.

Mrs. Jackson had a big and generous heart. She ensured that every child at Jefferson School had a hot meal for lunch. She even helped establish the first hot lunch program within the city's public schools. During segregation, Mrs. Jackson was a huge supporter of Jefferson School's football team. She helped them acquire uniforms and provided them with transportation to and from practice and away games using a truck owned by her family's business. After home games, she fed both teams, their coaches and doctors a hearty meal that began with soup. A favorite menu item on the dinner plate was Mrs. Jackson's homemade meatballs. 
Picture
William E. "Billpost" Jackson, Jr.
​​Besides being known as an educator, Mrs. Jackson was known throughout Charlottesville as a landlord who took care of her property, and who rented at rates African American families just starting out could afford. According to some, at her death, her estate was worth a million dollars! Of course, that was mainly due to the value of her properties.  

Mrs. Jackson's son William E.  Jackson, Jr. (1888-1972), otherwise known as "Billpost" Jackson, along with his son Edward R. Jackson ran a family business--Jackson Poster Advertising. It was a home-based operation installing billboards all over the area, and it provided the family with a decent living. It was skillful work, placing paste on the back of huge lithograph printouts then putting them together like a puzzle on a board. But they did it, and well, too!
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Photo Credits
1. "George Carr." Photo: Rufus W. Holsinger, 1914. Holsinger Studio Collection, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA, Call No. 9862, Image ID. 33256, accessed September 10, 2023.

2. "A. J. Buckner." Photo: Rufus W. Holsinger, 1918. Holsinger Studio Collection, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA, Call No. 9862, Image ID. 33148, accessed September 10, 2023.

3. "Inge's Store, 331-333 Main Street, Charlottesville, Independent City, VA." Drawing: Johnson W Pitt, 1933. Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress, Image 8, accessed September 10, 2023. 

4. Photo of oil painting of George Pinkney Inge by unknown artist, found in Inge's Store, 331-333 West Main Street Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Virginia, compiled by Timothy L. Bishop, University of Virginia School of Architecture, 1979. Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Call No.: SVA: No. 49:1979, YX001 117 764. Used with permission from the Estate of George P. Inge.

5. Photo of the inside of Inge's Grocery, date unknown, reprint found in “Inge’s Store Has a Place in Main Street’s History and Future," by Ray McGrath, The Daily Progress, November 11, 1979, used with permission from the Estate of George P. Inge. 

6. Nannie Cox Jackson. Found in "Nannie Cox Jackson," CVillepedia. Accessed September 10, 2023.

7. "Viola Green" Photo: Rufus W. Holsinger, 1916. Holsinger Studio Collection, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA, Call No. 9862, Image ID. 34283, accessed September 10, 2023.

8. William E. Jackson, Jr. Courtesy Teresa Walker Jackson Price.

9. Jackson Post Advertising Sign. Courtesy Teresa Walker Jackson Price.
​
  • While I have diligently sought to establish and contact the copyright owners of these images, I believe their inclusion here is within the confines of fair use, and/or that they are in the public domain.
Selected Bibliography
​*"Buckner, Anthony T." Daughters of Zion Cemetery, accessed September 9, 2023. 

​"Buckner, Eileen Wood." Daughters of Zion Cemetery, accessed September 9, 2023. 

"Buckner, Geneva J. Tonsler." Daughters of Zion Cemetery, accessed September 9, 2023. 

​"Buckner, Louisa E." Daughters of Zion Cemetery, accessed September 9, 2023. 
​
Correcting the Narrative. "Why Name a School for Nannie Cox Jackson?" December 3, 2019, accessed September 10, 2023.

CVillepedia. "George P. Inge." Accessed September 10, 2023.  

CVillepedia. "Nannie Cox Jackson." Accessed September 10, 2023.

Daily Progress. "Progress Past." June 13, 2018, accessed September 10, 2023. 

George Minor Carr J. F. Bell Funeral Home Records Entry. Digitized by the  Virginia Center for Digital History, University of Virginia, accessed September 9, 2923.  

Getting Word. "Nancy Colbert Scott." Monitcello.org, accessed September 10, 2023.
​
Heritage Trail. "Nannie Cox Jackson (1864-1953), Teacher." Jefferson Heritage Center, accessed September 10, 2023. 

"Inge's Store: 331-333 West Main Street, Charlottesville, Virginia." Historic American Buildings Survey: HABS No. VA-1015. Digitized by the Library of Congress, accessed September 10, 2023.

Interview with Mrs. Teresa Jackson Walker Price. September 23, 2023.
​ 
​Mangione, Wilma T., Editor. “Recollections of Thomas Ferguson Inge, Sr.” From Porch Swings to Patios: An Oral History Project of Charlottesville Neighborhoods, 1914-1980. The City of Charlottesville, 1990, accessed September 8, 2023.

McGrath, Ray. "Inge's Store Has a Place in Main Street's History and Future." Daily Progress, November 11, 1979.

Munro, J.F. "Anthony T. Buckner." Holsinger Portrait Project, February 10, 2022, accessed September 9, 2023.

​Munro, Julia F. "George Carr." Holsinger Portrait Project. University of Virginia, February 10, 2022, accessed September 10, 2023.
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Mama's Chicken & Dumplings: The Musicians

12/17/2024

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Sampson's Happy Pals

Below are pictured the members of Sampsons' Happy Pals, a band that performed live jazz and swing numbers during the 1930 and ’40s throughout Charlottesville, Virginia, and surrounding counties. When this picture was taken, the members included: ​(left to right) Earl Sampson (tenor sax), George Jones (guitar), T. J. Sellers (drums), Theodore “Duke” Chisholm (piano), Kermit Jones (alto sax), George Bowles (trumpet), Percy Sampson (trombone), and Clarence Bryant (bass). 
Picture
Photo courtesy the family of Elmer "Sonny" Sampson, found in Charlottesville: The African-American Community by Agnes Cross-White (Dover, NH: Arcadia Publishing, 1998).
While on her West Main Street quest in Charlottesville to find her mama a husband who loves to sing, 10-year-old Allie, the main character in MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS my forthcoming novel for young readers that takes place in 1935 Vinegar Hill, asks Mr. Journey, a fictional character who owns a sewing machine shop. . .
"I’m wondering, Mr. Journey,” I say. “I mean, it’s obvious you know a thing or two about fixing things . . . but can you sing?” 

Mr. Journey stops dusting and looks at Jewel and me like we’re a math equation he’s trying to figure. “Every now and again, I sing with Sampson’s Happy Pals.” 
It was pretty cool to find mention of the band in The Reflector, "Charlottesville's Only Negro Weekly," which was published by T. J. Sellers from 1933-1936. For example, there was this lighthearted inclusion in the "Around Town" society news column with C.S. Kelly in the number 3 issue that came out on August 26, 1933:
"Rumor has it that Jerry Bowles is practising with 'Sampson's Happy Pals'. What's that? Did I hear some one say that he likes suspense? Here's a bit. We are not telling you where Mr. Bowles bought the instrument, or what kind it is or how much it cost, but we will say that we expect him to make his debut soon. If you do not wish to miss this treat, you had better follow 'Sampson's Happy Pals' around the town."
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Orange County News, Volume 11, Number 47, 16 March 1933.
A more sobering mention was found on the front page of the June 9, 1934, issue of The Reflector. It said:
"Readers of this issue of 'The Reflector' will notice an announcement concerning the John Stratton Benefit Dance, to be held next Thursday, June 14th.

This entertainment, to be staged at the Odd Fellows Hall, will represent an effort, on the part of Sampson's Happy Pals, to assist a former member of their orchestra in the securing of medical attention that has been advised for him.

Stratton, as Charlottesville knows, was the little man "behind the drums" in Sampson's Happy Pals. Several months ago, he became ill and has been confined to his bed ever since. In these economically topsy-turvy times, when even well men find the going tough, it is not difficult to understand why it is a worthwhile movement on the part of the orchestra to provide their former orchestra member with financial assistance.

The intentions of the band are commendable, but unless the public catches the spirit and supports this movement, these intentions will amount to very little in a material way. Negro citizens of Charlottesville should keep this fact in mind and make arrangements to help make his movement a successful one because such a splendid display of brotherhood on the part of these ten musicians should be encouraged."
Despite his band mates' efforts to get him needed care, Mr. Stratton sadly passed away on August 27, 1934, at just 28 years of age.
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Photo courtesy Chris Farina and Rosalia Films. From West Main Street, https://vimeo.com/273521741, accessed April 27, 2023.
Above is Elmer "Sonny" Sampson. He's seated in front of the home he was born in, located on 6th Street SW. Sonny played for a short while with his older brother Percy in Sampson's Happy Pals. Sonny was an accomplished trombone player who played with well-known musicians like Lena Horne. Sonny was one of the first two African Americans invited to join Charlottesville's Municipal Band in 1968 after Jim Crow laws lifted.
​
I sure wish I could find a recording of Sampson's Happy Pals!
​Bibliography:
Cross-White, Agnes. Charlottesville: The African-American Community. Dover, NH: Arcadia Publishing, 1998.

Cvilleband.org. "African Americans and the Band," accessed July 29, 2023.

J.F. Bell Funeral Records. John Stratton. Virginia Center for Digital History, University of Virginia, accessed July 29, 2023.
​
Kelly, C.S. The Reflector (Charlottesville, VA),  Number 3, 26 Aug. 1933, p. 3.

Orange County News (VA), Volume 11, Number 39, 19 January 1933, accessed July 28, 2023. 

Orange County News (VA), Volume 11, Number 47, 16 March 1933, accessed July 29, 2023.

Sellers, T. J., ed. The Reflector (Charlottesville, VA), Number 7, 16 Sept. 1933, p. 3.

Sellers, T. J., ed. The Reflector (Charlottesville, VA),  Number 44, 9 June 1934, p. 1.

West Main Street. Produced by Chris Farina and Reid Oechslin. Rosalia Films: 1995, accessed April 27, 2023.
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Mama's Chicken & Dumplings: The Storm

12/17/2024

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HURRICANE!

PictureLibrary of Congress
It happened in the middle of the night on September 2, 1935. It was Labor Day weekend, and little did the residents of the Florida Keys know that a category 5 hurricane was barreling toward them. But when the monstrous storm made landfall, everyone realized the danger. Waters rose. Biting rain pounded. Sustained winds battered at 185 mph!

On Metacumbe Key, a storm surge caused ocean waves to crest between 15-20-feet. Soon, every building, every tree, every living thing on the island was being ripped to shreds. On Lower Metacumbe Bay, 260 U.S. World War I veterans were surrounded by the storm. They'd been working on an overseas highway and hadn't been given ample warning or opportunity to evacuate. A train was sent to rescue them, but the storm surge pushed it off its tracks. Help was not on the way.

Tragically, all the men lost their lives.

By the time the storm subsided, the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane had claimed at least 485 victims.
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Digitized by the Library of the University of Virginia
Allie, my main character in Mama's Chicken & Dumplings, overhears her mama talking about a hurricane brewing in the Atlantic, but that's the only mention I make of it in my work of historical fiction. If the storm had greatly impacted Charlottesville, Virginia, I would have included more. But by the time the storm moved inland it had weakened.

The local newspaper, the Daily Progress, however, did report on three days of heavy rains from the storm, which destroyed corn and apple crops. And it reported that the town of Scottsville, Virginia, located about 20 miles south of Charlottesville, had flooded when the the James River rose 23 feet above its normal level. No doubt, the overflowing waters of Mink Creek, which passed by the Methodist Church on Main Street, were also responsible for the town's streets being turned into waterways navigable only by rowboats. 
Picture
(c) Photo: Edward L. Dorrier
​I wondered if the residents of Vinegar Hill had a fundraiser for the African American family from Scottsville who lost everything when their two-story home was swept away by a flooded creek while the family was stuck inside. (Thankfully, the house floated and became lodged onto a bridge and the uninjured family was subsequently rescued.)

​Following the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, the Weather Bureau determined to improve hurricane warnings and evacuation orders. Nowadays, the National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use powerful tools like satellite imaging and supercomputers to sound hurricane warnings to give residents of coastal areas plenty of time to evacuate, thus minimizing loss of life.
Photo Credits
1. "Rescue Train Swept off the Tracks by the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane." Library of Congress, Control No. 2021670725, accessed September 8. 2023.

2. Front page of the Daily Progress. Charlottesville, VA,  No. 16, 104, September 5, 1935, accessed September 8, 2023. 

3. Dorrier, Edward L. Dorrier. "Sept. 6, 1935 Flood Photo of Main Street in Scottsville, VA." Irene and Edward L. Dorrier Collection, Scottsville Museum, Scottsville, VA, accessed September 8, 2023. Photo used with permission from Irene Dorrier and the Scottsville Museum.
Bibliography
Daily Progress, September 5, 1935, p. 1, digitized by the University of Virginia Library, accessed September 1, 2023.

Daily Progress, September 6, 1935, p. 1, digitized by the University of Virginia Library, accessed September 1, 2023.

HurricaneScience.org. "1935-Labor Day Hurricane." The University of Rhode Island, accessed September 1, 2023.
 
Library of Congress. "Rescue Train Swept off the Tracks by the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane." Item Description, accessed September 1, 2023.

McDonald, W. F. "The Hurricane of August 31 to September 6, 1935." Monthly Weather Review, 63, 269-271, accessed September 1, 2023.

National Weather Service. "NOAA Weather Radio in the Florida Keys." NOAA, accessed September 1, 2023. 
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Mama's Chicken & Dumplings: The Doctors

12/17/2024

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 Doctors Serving the Vinegar Hill Community

Picture
Seated: Dr. George Franklin Johnson, Mrs. Peachie Carr Johnson, and Mr. Conly Greer
Standing: Mrs. Emma Carr Clorinda, Mrs. Mary Carr Greer, and Fannie Carr Washington
In 1935, when Mama's Chicken & Dumplings takes place, the medical needs of Vinegar Hill residents were cared for by five African American physicians and dentists whose home offices or joint practices were either within the neighborhood or located in nearby neighborhoods of Charlottesville, Virginia, like Starr Hill and Fifeville.

The 1934 Hill’s Charlottesville, Virginia, City Directory names them: George Johnson, Edward Stratton, Jr., Bernard Coles, John Jackson, and Edgar Long, Jr.

Dr. George Franklin Johnson (1876-1945) was born in Orange County. He was a 1911 Howard University medical school graduate who practiced at his home office at 123 4th St. NW in Charlotteville for 30 years. He married Peachie Suporah Carr (1889-1977), an Albemarle native, in 1914. 

​According to a participant at Family Photo Day held at the University of Virginia on March 9, 2019, the man in the photo below is that of Dr. Johnson. However, when I showed the image to Charlottesville native and longtime Jefferson School educator, Mrs. Teresa Walker Jackson Price, whose mind is as sharp as ever at 97 years, she said with certainty that it was not Dr. Johnson.

I also shared the photo with Peachie Carr's grandniece and her grandnephew's wife. Neither ladies recognized the man in the photo as Dr. Johnson. So I'm pretty sure the photo below has been misidentified, but wanted to include it here anyway. Above however, is the photo the Carr-Geer family shared with me, in which they identified Dr. Johnson as sitting next to his wife, Peachie.
Picture
Photo likely misidentified as George Franklin Johnson, M.D.
Peachie Carr Johnson (later Jackson) was a teacher in Orange County for two years then at Jefferson School in Charlottesville for decades. She graduated from Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (now Virginia State College) with a teaching degree in 1912. In 1933, she obtained a bachelors of science degree from the same university. Later, Peachie did graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Dr. George F. Johnson in company with Mrs. Mary Greer motored to Virginia State College at Petersburg, to witness the Commencement exercises. Mrs. Peachie C. Johnson was a member of the graduating class." * 

Besides being a teacher, Peachie Carr Johnson was a civic minded individual who was quite involved in various literary and social clubs as well as benevolent societies organized by Charlottesville's African American women. From 1954-58, she was the president of the Virginia Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. I'm sure you'll find the primary research that's been done by the Ivy Creek Foundation about Peachie's family, the Carr and Greer Families, quite fascinating. I certainly did! (Find it HERE.)

According to Peachie's obituary, Dr. Johnson died suddenly in 1945. ​
Picture
Howard University Dentistry Class, circa 1900
Seen below is Dr. John Andrew Jackson (1888-1956). According to the 1934 Hill's Directory he was living at 125 4th Street NW, next door to Dr. Johnson, and practicing dentistry at 406 Commerce Street NW, right across from Jefferson School. Dr. Jackson received his D.D.S. degree from Howard University in 1913. 

Dr. Jackson's wife's name was Otelia Love (1889-1966). Otelia was actively involved in civic organizations serving the African American community of Charlottesville. The Jacksons had seven children--five sons and two daughters. Two of their sons Ellard "Punjab" Jackson and George Franklin Jackson became dentists like their father. The entire Jackson family was quite involved in volunteering with the National Association of Colored Dentists, now the National Dental Association, a professional organization founded in the 1900s by Dr. David Arthur Ferguson of Richmond, Virginia.
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John Andrew Jackson, D.D.S.
In addition to their city property, the Jacksons owned 82 acres of farmland that was just outside the city. Dr. Jackson's father, Andrew W. Jackson, once had a working farm there. The land was located within a bustling, rural African American community called  Hydraulic Mills-Union Ridge. During the summer months, Dr. Jackson, who was scoutmaster of Charlottesville's African American Troop No. 15, allowed his land in the country to be used by the local African American Boy Scouts who camped, gardened, competed, and swam there.

​"Week before last, our city was host to the Old Dominion Dental Society. What an asset this convention wasmto our city. If nothing else were enumerated, the inspiration allotted to our young people is really worthy of note. Without any attempt at exaggeration I have heard about ten young men and women express their desire to become dentists. Dr. J. A. Jackson and Dr. B. A. Coles deserve great credit for their unselfishness in planning the public meeting. . ." **

Dr. Bernard A. Coles (1894-1971) a dentist, and Dr. Edgar A. Long, Jr., a physician, took care of the needs of their patients in an office located inside Vinegar Hill at 271½ West Main Street. Most likely, Dr. Long also visited infirm and ill patients in their homes. According to the 1934 Hill's Directory, Dr. Coles lived at 313 8th St. NW in Charlottesville with his wife Ruth, and Dr. Long, Jr. lived at 321 6th St. SW with his wife Marie. (The directory also lists another couple as living at the same home--Lloyd and Mary Tonsler.)  
​
Dr. Coles along with Dr. Jackson awarded graduating seniors of Jefferson School who had maintained the highest average in English with a five dollar gold piece, and awarded a five dollar prize for the best essay written by a student in any class! 
PictureEdward W. Stratton, Jr., M.D.
​Dr. Edward W. Stratton Jr. was listed in the directory as practicing at his home at 206 6th Street NW. His wife's name was Marguerite. As a volunteer in the 1930s, he served as the physician for Jefferson School's football team. On the left is an image of him cropped from a photo that was taken with the undefeated Jefferson School football team in 1935.

Just who was Dr. Edward W. Stratton, Jr.? More research needs to be done. But I wonder if he was the son of Edward W. Stratton who was the son of a Samuel Stratton, an African American clerk who built his family's home in Columbia, South Carolina in 1887.  I also wonder if he was the young man with the same name who was listed in Howard University's 1933 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity roster.

I was truly delighted to discover from Mrs. Teresa Walker Jackson Price that I was correct in assuming that Dr. Edward W. Stratton, Jr. of Vinegar Hill was the same Dr. Edward W. Stratton, Jr. who was a prominent obstetrician in Los Angeles during the 1950s and 60s. And when I showed her a picture that I found of that Dr. Stratton (HERE), she quickly said, yes, it's him! And she should know. Dr. Stratton was her "godfather" who saw his patients in a basement office located in her family's basement, and who ate supper with her family every night!  
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I really enjoyed finding out more about the physicians and dentists whose names were marked with a "C" in Hill's 1934 Directory (indicating their color). Learning even just a little about them, their wives, and families filled me with something akin to familial pride. And I felt it not just for them, but for all those back then who were professionals serving their communities--though they were born just a generation away from the Dark Days of Slavery.

As Charlottesville newspaper man T. J. Sellers, said: "They deported themselves with a decorum, born of culture and dignity."

It was my privilege to shine a small light on them by naming the doctor in Mama's Chicken & Dumplings Dr. Stratton. 
​Photo Credits
1. Carr-Greer Family Photo. Courtesy Helen Theodosia Lemons.

2. "Untitled" Photo: Ralph W. Holsinger. April 4, 1912. Holsinger Studio Collection, Albert and Shirley Small Collections Library, University of Virginia, Image ID 39856, neg. no. X00167A,  accessed August 29, 2023.

3. Howard University Dentistry Class. Photo: William Edward Burghardt, circa 1900. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Control NO. 2002695672, accessed August 29, 2023. 

4. John Andrew Jackson. Found in History of the American Negro & His Institutions: Virginia by A.B. Caldwell, January 1921: A.B. Caldwell Publishing, Atlanta, GA, p. 438, accessed August 29, 2023.

5. Edward W. Stratton Jr. Photo (cropped from 1935 Jefferson School Undefeated Football Team): Ralph W. Holsinger, 1935. Holsinger Studio Collection, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Image ID. 41491, neg. no. Y21177B2, accessed August 29, 2023.

6. Surgical Kit. Photo: Marjory Collins, February 1943. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Call No.LC-USW3- 017701-D, accessed August 30, 2023. 
​
  • I have diligently sought to establish and contact the copyright owners of the images used in my #NFPosts. Those on this page, I believe, are used within the confines of fair use, and/or are in the public domain.
Bibliography
"A Spirit of No Boundaries." Dental Economics, February 2014, p. 14, accessed August 28, 2023. 

African-American Genealogy Group. "About the J.F. Bell Funeral Home and Family." The Virginia Center for Digital History, accessed August 29, 2023. 
 
Central Virginia History Researchers. "The Hydraulic Mills / Union Ridge Community." Accessed August 29, 2023. 

CVillepedia. "B. A. Coles." Accessed August 29, 2023.
 
*"Dr. Geo. R. Ferguson." Journal of the National Medical Association. February 25, 1933, volume 1, pp. 36–37, accessed August 24, 2023.

Ezell, Ray. "Review of Black Boy Scouting in Central Virginia, 1915-1949." Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project, accessed August 29, 2023.  

Heritage Trails, No. 3. "Dr. John A. Jackson Home & Office: 125 Fourth Street NW." accessed August 29, 2023.

Howard University. The Bison, 1933, p. 107, accessed August 29, 2023.
​
​Obituary of Dr. George Franklin Jackson, D.D.S. Dignity Memorial, accessed August 29, 2023. 

 Jet, December 17, 1973, page 14, accessed August 29, 2023.

Kessler, Bryan S. "David Arthur Ferguson (1875–1935)." Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Library of Virginia, 2015, accessed August 29, 2023. 

Miller, Ed. "Excluded Elsewhere: UVA’s First Black Students Found Community of their Own​." The UVA Magazine, Summer 2021, p. 47, accessed August 29, 2023.

Monroe, Bruce, Orange County historian. Email Correspondence, September 21, 2023.

Munro, Julia F. "Dr. Johnson." Holsinger Portrait Project. University of Virginia, February 17, 2022, accessed August 23, 2023.

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. "Waverly Historic District." National Park Service, November 16, 1989, accessed August 29, 2023.

** Sellers, Thomas. "Old Dominion Dental Society." Reflector, April 21, 1934, issue no. 37, p. 4, col. 1, accessed August 29, 2023.

​Yager, Jordy. "Black Land, Black Schools & Eminent Domain." Mapping Albemarle/Mapping CVille, January 19, 2021, accessed August 29, 2023. 
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Mama's Chicken & Dumplings: The Candy

12/17/2024

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Mary Jane ®

A Peanut Buttery Molasses Taffy Penny-Candy

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(C) Atkinson Candy Company. Courtesy The Museum of Fictional Literary Artifacts
It was in 1914 when Charles N. Miller, a Boston, Massachusetts, European American candymaker, who cooked up the first batch of Mary Jane® penny candies. And it was his family's candy factory, the Charles N. Miller Candy Company that made the bite sized rectangular chewy bits of yum with its molasses taffy outside and peanut buttery inside a popular delight. The Mary Jane® penny candy is a favorite of Allie, my main character in Mama's Chicken & Dumplings, and whenever there's a penny in her dress pocket she runs down to Mr. Inge's store to buy a few.
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(C) Atkinson Candy Company. Courtesy The Museum of Fictional Literary Artifacts
In 1989, Mr. Miller's company closed. But not so the production of the Mary Jane® candy. The recipe and rights for creating it moved into the hands of the Stark Candy Company, then the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO), and now the Atkinson Candy Company out of Texas. 
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"The new recipe," states Eric Atkinson on the company's website, "captures the flavor of Mary Janes, for it's the same components as it always was." 

Atkinson Candy Company still packages the candy with that familiar yellow and red wrapper adorned with an adorable little girl dressed in a bonnet, the same kind of wrapper Allie would have seen in 1935, though the candy is cylindrical in shape now, much smaller, and doesn't have the peanut butter center. (It's still a bite of chewy yum IMO!)​
Bibliography
Atkinson, Sarah. "Atkinson Brings Back Mary Jane Candy!" Atkins.com, April 22, 2021.

Birrell, Alistair. "Dear America, We Invented All Your Candy. Love, Boston." Boston.com, October 22, 2014, accessed August 31, 2023.

Daily Progress. "Progress Past." June 13, 2018, accessed August 13, 2023.

Garner, Nicole. "The Revolutionary Story Behind Mary Jane Candies." Mental Floss, October 29, 2015.

Kurland, Ann Trieger. "Mary Jane Makes a Sweet Comeback." Boston Globe, October 13, 2020, accessed August 31, 2023.

Library of Congress. "Inge's Store, 331-333 West Main Street Charlottesville, VA." Historic American Buildings Survey, HABS No. VA-1015, accessed August 31, 2023.

Library of Congress. "New England Confectionery Company (NECCO)." Local Legacies: Celebrating Community Roots--Massachusetts, accessed August 31, 2023.

Noennig, Jordyn. "NECCO Wafers May No Longer Exist, Echoing the History of Pewaukee's Stark Candy Co." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 19, 2018, accessed August 31, 2023.

The Cambridge Historical Society. "NECCO: 254 Massachusetts Avenue (1847-present)." The History of Candymaking, accessed August 31, 2023.

The Museum of Fictional Literary Artifacts. "Mary Jane (Candy)." Accessed August 31, 2023.

Tucker, Aimee. "Mary Jane Candy--Favorite Old-Fashioned Candy." NewEngland.com, June 29, 2022, accessed August 31, 2023.
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Giveaway to Educators a Success Times Ten!

11/16/2024

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I'm delighted to say that I gave away 10 copies of MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS to 10 wonderful Charlottesville City and Albemarle County schoolteachers and librarians during my educator giveaway, which I held from October 15, 2024, through November 15, 2024. I hand delivered signed copies to seven different local schools during my campaign! That was great fun!

But now I'm wondering: will the kiddos enjoy being transported back to 1935 Vinegar Hill as Allie sets out on her West Main Street adventure? I certainly hope so, especially since these particular readers attend schools located just minutes away from where the story takes place.

During my campaign, I also gave away a free classroom visit and am delighted to say the winner is Trailblazer Elementary School, with the visit set for February 5, 2025--World Read Aloud Day! 

THANKS OODLES to all the educators that participated!  
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Happy Pub Day for BIRD NERD!

10/22/2024

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Congrats, Jennifer Ann Richter!

​Salutations, Jennifer! I'm delighted to have a small share in celebrating the release of your debut MG, BIRD NERD! I remember when your book was just a twinkle in your eye.

Thanks, Dionna! I remember reading some of your first chapters of MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS, too. We've stayed the course, haven't we?
 
We have! It was a double pleasure for me when I learned that not only would our debuts be coming out in the same year, but that we'd also have the same publisher, Holiday House Books for Young Readers. How cool is that?

Very cool. And thank you for creating our debut group, The 24/7s! You've been doing yeoman's work for our group and have been an enthusiastic supporter of our books.

It seemed like the appropriate thing to do. Okay, so down to business. Please share how your kidlit journey began.

I’d have to go way, way back for that one! Of course, like a lot of authors, I enjoyed writing as a child. Mainly poetry and the occasional short story attempt. But writing was just one of my gazillion interests, and one that I never thought I’d do as a profession. Then a little over twenty years ago, between unsatisfactory career choices, I found myself dabbling in writing again. Then I got to thinking maybe I could write for a living. So I started coming up with article ideas and fiction pieces and flooded the market with them. In 2004, I thought I’d gotten my big break when I published two stories—one suspense, one with more of a literary bent.  But the streak ended quickly, and that made me stop and focus on what it was I really wanted to write.

I thought back to my most positive reading experiences and realized they were all books I read during my tween/teen years. Then I figured, if I enjoyed reading those books so much, maybe I would enjoy writing them. That was also a time when world events were such that I wanted to write novels that gave young people hope.

From that point on I took fiction courses and workshops, joined SCBWI, wrote a bad novel, then a better one. Then a third. And my fourth is what ultimately got picked up. I’ve also published children’s short fiction and poetry along the way.

Very interesting journey! So what inspired you to write BIRD NERD? Was birding your jam as a kid?

Surprisingly, birding was not one of my gazillion interests growing up. Once I discovered it as an adult, though, I became quite an obsessed birdwatcher. Birds then began to naturally show up in my writing. In fact, I think something bird-related has appeared in every one of my novel manuscripts and in quite a bit of my poetry.

I suspect birds were off my radar as a kid because I grew up in a big city and never knew anyone who was interested in birds. This inspired me to write a novel about city kids discovering the world of birding. The novel took on many forms and initially was set in middle school and didn’t involve a competition. During my latest re-start, more than one writer friend brought up the idea of a competition. I decided to go with that and make it between city and suburban kids as a vehicle to demonstrate our commonality and to bridge differences in race, socio-economics, etc.

Sounds like a perfect combination to a winning book for middle-grade readers!
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​What was the revision process like as you worked with your editor Della Farrell?

My first round was big picture stuff. The next time around, I received a more detailed chapter-by-chapter feedback. A good deal of it had to do with timeline issues, which were mainly due to some changes I’d made on my own during the first round. (Note to self: Don’t change what’s not broken!) I must admit, when I first opened Della's second editorial letter, my jaw dropped. All I could see was the work that lay ahead of me. To reach my deadline, I immediately went into advance-planning/full-planner mode.

Advance-planning/full-planner mode? Explain, please. 

At an SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Conference, author Pamela N. Harris had encouraged writers to create an electronic chart or binder to keep track of any editorial notes and suggestions you might get to improve your manuscript. Alongside each comment, she suggested you list ways you would address the suggestion. Long before I received my first editorial letter from Della, I had that virtual chart up and ready to use. I had even included things that I myself wanted to change in order to enrich the story. While waiting for my second editorial letter, I created a new binder to include things I learned from my first editorial letter. This helped me stay grounded and keep track of things.

Hooray for authors helping authors! Well, thanks so much for catching us up on your Bird Nerd journey, and allowing us to be part of your big pub day. It was fun! 

Thank you for celebrating with me!

The Author:

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​Jennifer Ann Richter is a former diplomat, teacher, investment representative, editorial assistant, voice captioner, and audio description writer for TV (with a few odd jobs in between). Somehow, she managed to focus long enough to get serious about her writing—a love that had always been simmering in the background. Her big break came after novel attempt number four. Jennifer’s interests are as varied as her employment history, and they often find their way into her poetry, short stories, and novels. Her debut novel, BIRD NERD, was inspired by the birding hobby she picked up as an adult. Astronomy, space travel, and her experiences living and working in Germany have also featured prominently in her writing.
Check out jenniferannrichter.com for more, including Jennifer's Bird of the Month.

The Book:

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Bird Nerd is about ​thoughtful, nerdy fifth-grader Nyla sets out to win her school’s bird watching competition, while balancing old friends with new in this heartfelt debut.

Nyla Braun has always been called a nerd at her Philadelphia school. But that hasn’t stopped her from pursuing her nerdy hobbies, especially when she has best friend Tasha by her side. When a birding tournament between Nyla’s class and a class from a suburban school is announced, Nyla sees her chance to get the respect she deserves. If they win, that is. The Burb Birders will be tough competition.

With the contest underway, Nyla soon catches the attention of the most popular girl in class, who also wants to win, setting off a chain of small disasters as Nyla tries to balance old friends and new and the pressure to be cool when you really just want to be yourself.

Told with warmth and gentle humor, debut author Jennifer Ann Richter’s Bird Nerd combines a deep love of nature and birding with the story of a young girl learning to discover her own confidence and values.
Purchase your copy today!
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Happy Pub Day, MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS!

8/6/2024

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What began as an 100-word personal challenge to write something for a first pages reading event held during the 2011 Virginia Festival of the Book, MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS is at last a real live book, ready to be enjoyed by young and old readers alike. At least, I hope!
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Book Launch Celebration Success!

8/5/2024

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Delighted to share that the book launch celebration for my debut novel for young and old readers alike, MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS, a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection, was a complete success. The turnout at the central branch of the Jefferson Regional Library in CVIlle on August 3, was more than expected, the two young flautists played their duet beatifully, and everyone said they LOVED my chicken and dumplings!
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Book Launch Day for MAMA'S CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS Coming Next Week!

7/27/2024

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Book Launch Celebration Day!

If you're in my neck of the woods, please come by and celebrate with me!

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(C) Vanessa Brantley Newton, vanessabrantleynewton.com

Saturday, August 3, 2024, 2-4 pm
Jefferson Madison Regional Library, Central Branch
201 E. Market St.
Charlottesville, VA, 22902

I​n honor of historical fiction, wear vintage from any decade before the 1990s for an extra chance to win a gift basket of goodies worth $200!

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Free swag & stuff
Snacks
Fun activities
Munch on chicken & dumplings 
Learn more about the setting, Vinegar Hill
Listen to local youths play a flute duet
And more!

​Young ones, enter my coloring contest by bringing a drawing of yourself cooking together with a family member.
The winner will be chosen by kidlit professionals.

Order your copy from your favorite indie or from mine, Buebird & Co. HERE.
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Mama's Chicken & Dumplings Preorder Campaign Begins!

6/3/2024

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Happy Book Launch Day for Ritu Hemnani!

5/7/2024

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Congrats, Ritu, and Welcome!

So delighted to have you here today, your book launch day for LION OF THE SKY!

Happy to be here, Dionna. Thanks for inviting me!

Inquiring minds want to know. How did you find your way to becoming a kidlit author?

I have always loved to write, just for the joy of creating with words. As a child, I kept a secret diary and wrote letters to pen-pals, but what I loved most was writing poems whenever I took public transport. One day, I won a poetry competition in high school with a poem that I’d scribbled from the top deck of a moving double-decker bus and won a cash prize! I entered every writing competition I could after that and, to date, my poems have won me money, tickets to Paris, tickets to the cinema, furniture vouchers, and even a Kindle! Though I always seemed to find myself in bookstores and even asked for a typewriter for my twelfth birthday, it didn’t occur to me that writing was written in my future. Then one day, many years after I had become a high school English and Drama teacher…my 8-year-old daughter asked me a homework question...

You’ve piqued my interest! What did she ask you, and how did her question lead to you writing LION OF THE SKY, your debut MG novel-in-verse?

It was a homework question she needed help answering. Why do people migrate? I decided it was time to share with her our family's history. No matter how tragic, I believed she needed to know it.  

Share the history, please!

Sure! It began in 1947 as India became independent from British rule, the subcontinent was divided into two countries—a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan. The divide left millions of Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims living in the "wrong" country. Hostilities grew. Mass killings ensued. Millions had to flee to safety, including my grandparents and parents, who survived the largest mass migration in world history.

To help my daughter understand that dark, chaotic, and tumultuous time, I took her to the library. Though we found books about the Holocaust and the World Wars, we couldn’t find one children’s book about the Partition of India. My daughter accused me of making the whole thing up. It broke my heart. For days after our library visit, I thought about the fourteen million people who lost their homes and the one million who died. I decided to write the children’s book I couldn’t find for my daughter. I joined the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and in 2017 self-published a picture book about our family’s history, GOPE AND MEERA–A MIGRATION STORY. 

That's an incredible story, a sad slice of history, one many living in the United States may know little about. It's understandable you wanted your daughter to know about it. What does she think of her family history now?

Now all three of my children feel like they’re experts on the Partition! They are very proud of their elders for the determination and resilience they showed in adapting to new cultures and languages, whilst making sacrifices so their children could thrive. My kids also feel empowered with a new understanding that adversity of all kinds can be overcome with courage and the right mindset.

True this!
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(C) Tara Anand, taraanandart.com

"D​rawing from family history, Hemnani delivers a wrenching historical verse debut...Compelling stakes ratchet up the tension in this illuminating and harrowing story about displacement, grief, and hope." 
​Publisher's Weekly Starred Review for LION OF THE SKY

​Though the setting of LION OF THE SKY is based on your family’s history, did you still have to do a lot of research?

Yes it did! It was years of research focusing particularly on what happened in Sindh. Unlike the provinces of Punjab and Bengal which were split in two, Sindh was given intact to the newly created nation of Pakistan, where both my maternal and paternal grandparents lived. Like my grandparents, many Sindhis were forced to leave their homeland and rebuild their lives in Hong Kong as immigrants. I dug deep into the research and unearthed many treasures. It was important for my family’s narrative to be historically accurate because it’s an inheritance worth sharing. 

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. Why did you decide to use the novel-in-verse format for LION OF THE SKY?

I fell in love with novels-in-verse after reading INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai. I marvel at how each poem captures a concept, scene, or feeling in a few crafted words using language that’s distilled and powerful. I also appreciate how the format uses blank space to give room for the reader’s discovery of meaning and interpretation. I knew that a novel-in-verse would be the perfect vehicle for telling the story of Raj, my main character, and as I explored this format, the seed of lION OF THE SKY was born.

It sounds like a tug-at-heart read. Despite its setting, does LION OF THE SKY include rays of hope?

Hope is at the heart of this book. It is my hope that this will be what my readers are left with.

Changing the subject a little bit, what did you enjoy about working with your Balzer + Bray editor Alessandra Balzer?

Alessandra was so enthusiastic about working with me that I couldn’t quite believe it! I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the editorial process! Alessandra is extremely organized and systematic, and each round of edits was specific, so whether I was working on big-picture edits or focusing on character, setting, or various themes, I never felt too overwhelmed. Alessandra skillfully asked exactly the right questions that helped me distill what I was trying to say. She was quick to respond with insightful comments and enthusiasm, motivating me to dig deeper and infuse nuance into my writing. Her understanding of the heart of my novel helped me enhance its emotional impact, and her ability to see the potential in every scene, pushed me to explore new creative avenues and take risks with my storytelling. Our collaborative effort has resulted in a middle-grade novel that has exceeded my wildest expectations! I learned so much from the process and am grateful for the invaluable lessons and growth it has brought to my writing journey. I am so incredibly grateful to have worked with such a brilliant and insightful editor and am truly honored to join the fantastic list of authors and titles at Harper Collins/Balzer & Bray!


To be sure! Well, thanks for sharing the story behind your story. It will no doubt inspire many young readers and shine the spotlight on a slice of history that should be learned from and not forgotten. Thanks so much for stopping in, and do keep in touch when your next novel for young readers is ready to roll off the press.


The pleasure has been all mine.

Purchase your copy of LION OF THE SKY today

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Ritu Hemnani is a journalist, teacher, voice actor, motivational speaker, and a storyteller who hopes every child will discover books where they can see themselves on the pages within, and will know that their stories matter. Ritu recognizes herself as ethnically Indian, and is a British national who calls Hong Kong her home, where she lives with her husband and three children. Ritu is passionate about promoting diversity and nurturing inclusivity and empathy through writing stories that center marginalized communities and encompass universal truths. She is also passionate about spotlighting human interest articles with heart, and collaborating with local literary and charity organizations to promote literacy. Ritu is the author of the picture book, Gope and Meera--a Migration Story. Her debut historical middle-grade novel-in-verse, Lion of the Sky, is set for publication in the Spring of 2024. When not writing or teaching, Ritu delights in family game nights, strumming the strings of her guitar, and paddling through Hong Kong waters on her carrot-colored kayak. Ritu is represented by Rubin Pfeffer of Rubin Pfeffer Content, LLC. To learn more about Ritu, tune in to "An Inheritance Worth Sharing" on TEDx Talk, where she shares the seeds of her writing journey and what inspired her deep dive into her family’s history. FInd her online rituhemnani.com.
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    About Me

    I am a children's book author who loves learning about lesser known individuals shining in the margins of African American history. My debut novel for young readers, Mama's Chicken & Dumplings (Margaret Ferguson Books, 2024), received a starred review from Shelf Awareness and is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection. I am 
    represented by Kelly Dyksterhouse of The Tobias Literary Agency.

    Copying, reposting, or otherwise republishing anything on this blog without permission is strictly prohibited.
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