I can now say that I have read a graphic book, as in one with illustrations as integral to the storytelling. Until reading Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe I had not picked up what to me is an adult comic book, mainly because my eye goes to words before pictures. Indeed, I often skim the pictures on a page or simply don’t look at them. So it took some concentration for me to be sure to actually look at the depicted content as well as the words on the page. I’m glad I did!

I adore the book I read this week! Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is a sweet young adult romance between two sixteen-year-old kids. Eleanor lives with her mother, abusive stepfather, and her siblings in a small house in a poor neighborhood. Park lives with his parents and brother in a nicer house in the same neighborhood. They attend the same school, and meet when Eleanor gets on the school bus for the first time. She ends up sitting with him because there’s nowhere else for her to sit. That awkward meetup evolves into so very much more.

I enjoyed this week’s banned book, Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff. I never know what to expect when picking up a new author to me, but I will say the story was a fresh take on a layer of society I know little about. This is a coming of age story about a girl maturing through a new awareness of the people in her life. Let me explain… The main character, Annabelle, starts sixth grade with expectations of the sameness of her school. Same teachers, same topics, etc. Only to find a new student, Bailey, has moved into town.

The next novel on my list is actually a book-length poem in free style verse. It’s another book by Ellen Hopkins, Crank. After reading this book, I can see it for what the author intended it to be: a cautionary tale. Indeed, she states in her Author’s Note, “If this story speaks to you, I have accomplished what I set out to do. Crank is, indeed, a monster—one the is tough to leave behind once you invite it into your life. Think twice. Then think again.” In other words, don’t even start.

Reading from a list of books generated by someone else always leads to reading something outside my wheelhouse. This week’s book, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson is one fine example of that. The reason why is that this is a memoir written by a young man in his thirties about his life up to that point. You might wonder how he’d have much to say, so let me explain what I discovered. I don’t typically read memoirs, so it was an interesting switch for me. I have read biographies about famous people, but not their memoirs.

The fifth novel on the below list that I’m going to talk about today is Tricks by Ellen Hopkins. I really should have known simply by the title what the book was all about, but I didn’t attempt to prejudge the contents based on the title. Hopkins really did have the perfect title for this book, especially knowing from her author note that she was exploring the reasons for teenage prostitution through her fiction as inspired by statistics regarding the same topic. She succeeded in her aim, as far as I can tell.

I have to admit that I didn’t really know what to expect from Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give. I’d heard of the movie but didn’t delve any further into what the story is about. I really enjoyed reading this story for several reasons. First, the authentic voice of the main character, Starr Carter, as she works through her totally understandable emotional reaction to the murder of her best friend. Thomas captured the pain and the anger along with the grief of Starr. I could feel her pain. I even cried along with her.

The third book on my list of banned books that I’m going to read has a somewhat humorous title. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a somewhat lighthearted look at a serious situation. The main character, Junior, lives on an Indian reservation and attends a school in a neighboring town. Why is that serious? The boy considers himself a part-time Indian because he’s one of only a very few who attend the school off the reservation. His Indian neighbors on the reservation consider him to have betrayed his nationality and them in particular by having “gone off the reservation.” He ends up feeling less Indian the farther from his home he goes.

This week’s read was the second most banned book in Alabama, Looking for Alaska by John Green. I’m jumping into reading these books without delving into what they are about. I want to just experience the story without any preconceived concept of what to expect. Looking for Alaska touched me in many ways. This story is a coming of age story. The main character, Miles, is 16 years old and attends his first year at a boarding school in Alabama. This story is one of self-discovery, hard lessons learned, and a new understanding of what friendship means.

Last time I introduced a new series of articles I’m beginning about my thoughts on banned books, especially the top 25 banned in Alabama, where I live. The complete list is below, which will be updated with the link to each related post as I go through the list. I don’t know that I’ll do all of these, mainly because I’m not an expert on children’s lit (board books, etc.). I prefer works for older audiences, young adult and up. But we’ll see. I may read the board books with an eye as a parent, since my husband and I raised two kids to be self-sufficient adults.

My favorite quote of all time comes from Thomas Jefferson, who said “I cannot live without books.” I include it on one of my bookmarks that I share with readers and most people who take one agree with the sentiment. I’ve been a reader since I learned my alphabet before I even started school (taught to me by my sisters playing school with me). Some of you may remember the Saturday morning and/or after school program, “Reading is Fundamental.” It is. It is fundamental to having an educated populace. Part of that education is experiencing others lives virtually, building understanding and caring for what others face in their lives through that shared experience of reading their story.

Frequently, while I’m writing historical fiction, I have to pause to figure out what options existed during a specific time period for a specific issue. I recall having to research how babies were diapered in the 18th century for my historical romance series A More Perfect Union, for example. I mean, they didn’t have Pampers or Luvs back then, right? Ultimately, I didn’t write the details into the story, but it was interesting to find out how they handled baby diapers back then. (Note: If you are just coming into this series of articles about writing…

Writing historical fiction involves being curious and questioning the history I’m basing my story upon. One question that has niggled in my writerly brain centered on the housing in Philadelphia for Mary Katharine and Sarah Goddard. These women, William Goddard’s sister and mother, respectively, moved at William’s demand, or coercion, from their comfortable Providence, Rhode Island home. His partners in the printing press he’d set up in Philadelphia had promised the ladies a house to call their own. However, when they arrived they learned differently. (If you are coming into this series of articles about the writing of…

As I sat down to write this blog post, I realized just how long it’s been since I have written one. Sorry for my lapse, but I have been busy working on my book and traveling. My most recent trip was a girls’ trip with my dear friend of 49 years and counting! We went to Edisto Beach, South Carolina, just down the coast from Charleston. I won’t belabor all the fun we had touring the island and shopping at its boutiques as well as exploring Charleston one day. We even took a horse-drawn carriage tour of the historic district of Charleston.

Let's overwhelm the man at the head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

I’m just returned home from an amazing four-day romance writers conference and I want to take today’s post to share just how useful and helpful attending it was for me. I’ll get back to talking about my writing of Mary Katherine Goddard’s story next time, but thought my experience at the conference might be informative for others. Not all writers conferences are created equal, I should say first. How was this one unique? (Note: If you are just coming into this series of articles about writing Katy: The Woman Who Signed the Declaration of Independence…

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One primary question I had about Mary Katherine Goddard was her appearance. What color hair? Eyes? How strong a chin? I mean, in order to faithfully present who she was, I should know what she looks like, right? (Note: If you are just coming into this series of articles about writing Katy: The Woman Who Signed the Declaration of Independence, you’ll find a chronological list of the previous posts below, as it continues to grow and take up more space.) Well, if you do an online search you will come across several occurrences of this…

Over the last three weeks, I’ve shared how I’ve used my research connected to the locations where my subject lived and worked while writing my current historical fiction novel about the life of Mary Katherine Goddard. One of the surprises to me, looking over the first draft to see what exactly I’d said about the place, was the lack of any real description of the city of Philadelphia. If you’re curious, check out History Tidbits about Philadelphia, PA. I mean, I thought I had put something in, but nope. Mainly, I’d focused on the tense relationships and the printing business and some other historical details.

The last location in Katy: The Woman Who Signed the Declaration of Independence is Baltimore, Maryland. I was fortunate to find a wonderful compilation of the history of that city. It details the founding of Baltimore and the progress of building the port city. It’s called The Chronicles of Baltimore; Being A Complete History of “Baltimore Town” and Baltimore City from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. It was written by Col. J. Thomas Scharf, a member of the Maryland Historical Society, in 1874. So I was able to weave in some interesting bits about the city from him and other sources.

From Providence, Rhode Island, the Goddard family ultimately moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The mother, Sarah, lived there for only a few years before she passed away. The years that Mary Katherine and William lived and worked in this city were fraught and tumultuous. So I found that when I was writing the story, I focused more on the personalities and situations than the location. What exactly is the history for this part of the novel? (Note: If you are just coming into this series of articles about writing…