I got a lovely review from Booklist this week and there’s a blog post over at Learner about how I chose the time period for LAST OF THE NAME. Check it out over here!
It’s 1863 when 12-year-old Danny and his 16-year-old sister, Kathleen, arrive in New York City penniless. The only job Kathleen can find is in domestic servitude, but there’s a catch: there’s no spot for a boy, so they dress up Danny as Kathleen’s sister. Danny struggles with all of it, especially once his eyes are opened to the many hardships of being female in the mid-nineteenth century. In one of the few moments out on the streets as himself, he’s noticed for his dancing and his pure, golden voice. Could it be their ticket out of this hardscrabble existence? Textured and well-researched, Parry’s latest historical novel brings to life New York City during the peak of the Civil War, particularly the tensions between the Irish immigrants and freedmen, as well as the looming draft riots. For Danny and Kathleen, there are no easy choices, but for every prejudiced, small-minded person they encounter, there seems to be another willing to sacrifice something of themselves for others. Nuanced and resonant for today’s readers.
— Jennifer Barnes
In just three short months we will celebrate my favorite literary holiday, World Read Aloud Day on February 1st, 2019. I will be doing Skype visits to classrooms all around the world. It’s pretty simple. If you want an author skype with me, we can set up a 20 minute slot. I’ll greet your students, give them a quick tour of my workspace and then read aloud for about 5-8 minutes. They can ask me a few questions and I’ll end by recommending something that I’ve read recently that I really liked–usually one fiction and one non-fiction book. It’s easy, fun and free!
I always find Veteran’s Day a cause for reflection. On the one hand, I believe there is value in honoring the sacrifices our veterans and their families have made. On the other hand, my husband and every other veteran I know has so much more to offer than their time in service. It seems unkind to reduce their lives to this one event and elevate it above all the rest. And in the end, if Veteran’s Day becomes a romanticization of war, then we serve no one well–least of all veterans.
So I was pleased to find the non-fiction picture book THIRTY MINUTES OVER OREGON: A Japanese pilot’s World War II story in Annie Blooms this fall. It’s the story of a plan the Japanese had to drop bombs that would set fires to the coast of Oregon in the hopes of starting the sort of catastrophic forest fires we are seeing now in California. Fortunately the plan failed and like veterans all over the world, bomber pilot Nobuo Fujita, returned to his home and former life. But time passed and one Memorial Day many years later the townspeople of Brookings, Oregon asked Mr. Fujita to return to the place he had tried to bomb, this time as an honored guest in celebration of many years of peace between the Unites States and Japan. What flows from that is a tale of peace and reconciliation and deep healing that would make any veteran of any war proud. Thank you to Clarion and author Marc Tyler Nobleman and illustrator Melissa Iwai for a beautiful and thought-provoking book.
Emily Whitman is the author of THE TURNING, a fabulous story steeped in the selkie mythology of folk who can shape sift into seals. She will be kicking off the year with a look at what really makes a setting sing.