Month: June 2009

In August, my friend Laura is going to present her paper to the International Research Society for Children’s Literature at the University of Goethe in Frankfurt, Germany. I’m really proud of her, and hope that I can find a reasonably priced flight to get over and hear her in person. Laura previously worked for Lee & Low Books, so multicultural children’s fiction is a subject dear to her heart. The title of her paper is , “What’s the Story?: Reflections on the Publication of Children’s Books Written by Non-White Authors in the UK.”

(Though I love Laura dearly, my real reason for posting about this is so I could show you the cool logo.)

As Tali and Octavia discovered, Juneteenth is a holiday. Though the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 signed by Lincoln freed the slaves after the Civil War, it took a full 2 years later, on June 19, 1865, for a group of Union soldiers to ride into Galveston, TX and read a general order freeing 250,000 slaves in that state. Few, of course, were willing to break the news to the slaves before that date, so Texas was redeemed two years behind schedule. The bittersweet celebration was turned into an official state holiday in 1980, and GO TEXAS for making this something for everyone in Texas to enjoy. It’s one holiday I’m glad to cheer for as well.

May someday ALL slaves be free for real. Happy Juneteenth.

Photo used courtesy of Life Magazine

Well, it’s time to pack up this giveaway, and get back to normal, which means a lot less messing around, and a lot more work. Oh, well. Books, with their original designer (hah!) bookplates, will be winging their way across the Atlantic to their various recipients shortly. Stay tuned!

For those of you a bit dismayed to not yet be finding copies of MARE’S WAR on the bookshelves of independent booksellers or B&N, don’t worry — shelf space is at a premium, and B&N especially prefers to have ninety-nine copies of a bestseller on hand than give even a shelf to a relative newcomer. However – persistence pays! Thanks to all of those who have been asking and pestering their local bookstores to carry my book, and a special thanks to all who, by handselling, reccomendation and “you’ve got to read this!” have connected Mare with readers who are delighted to find her.

Danke! Mille graize! Merci beaucoup! Taak! Gracias! Thank you all, so very much.

Photo courtesy of Life Magazine.

This photograph is of Priscilla Taylor, a truck driver serving in the Women’s Army Corps in 1943, at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. Just look at the double-rear wheels on that rig. Good thing Mare wasn’t driving…

If you’ve dropped in from Lynette Holloway’s AOL’s Black Voices site, welcome! (MARE’S WAR will soon be a featured title there, and thank you, Lynette & Co.!)

Today is the last day of the MARE’S WAR book giveaway, but never fear — this one will be open ’til Tuesday midnight, and there will be other chances to win copies of MARE’S WAR from other websites throughout the summer.

Mare met hundreds of women working in the Women’s Army Corps, but there were more women out there — with a nudge from Eleanor Roosevelt, the Navy got busy authorizing a Womens’ Naval Reserve and the Marine Corps Womens’ Reserve. The Coast Guard followed with the WAVES – Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, and the SPARS, which came from the Coast Guard motto Semper Paratus – always ready.

The U.S. wasn’t the only country in which women were serving. The United Kingdom and its Commonwealth countries like Canada and New Zealand had plenty of women filling in the ranks in the WRAF — the Women’s Royal Air Force, the Women in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), and the FANY, the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, which was created in 1907, to serve the combatants of the First World War. Around the globe, doors opened for women in the military and in the workplace as never before. So, my question for you is this: which of the Allied nations allowed women to go so far as to engage in combat, AND what was the derisive (but unintentionally cool) nickname the Nazis gave these women? The first three people to email these answers to me — please don’t post them! — will win a signed copy of MARE’S WAR along with a bookplate. You have until midnight on Tuesday!

EDIT: Congratulations, Laurie!

Photo courtesy of Life Magazine.

This photograph is of Priscilla Taylor, a truck driver serving in the Women’s Army Corps in 1943, at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. Just look at the double-rear wheels on that rig. Good thing Mare wasn’t driving…

If you’ve dropped in from Lynette Holloway’s AOL’s Black Voices site, welcome! (MARE’S WAR will soon be a featured title there, and thank you, Lynette & Co.!)

Today is the last day of the MARE’S WAR book giveaway, but never fear — this one will be open ’til Tuesday midnight, and there will be other chances to win copies of MARE’S WAR from other websites throughout the summer.

Mare met hundreds of women working in the Women’s Army Corps, but there were more women out there — with a nudge from Eleanor Roosevelt, the Navy got busy authorizing a Womens’ Naval Reserve and the Marine Corps Womens’ Reserve. The Coast Guard followed with the WAVES – Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, and the SPARS, which came from the Coast Guard motto Semper Paratus – always ready.

The U.S. wasn’t the only country in which women were serving. The United Kingdom and its Commonwealth countries like Canada and New Zealand had plenty of women filling in the ranks in the WRAF — the Women’s Royal Air Force, the Women in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), and the FANY, the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, which was created in 1907, to serve the combatants of the First World War. Around the globe, doors opened for women in the military and in the workplace as never before. So, my question for you is this: which of the Allied nations allowed women to go so far as to engage in combat, AND what was the derisive (but unintentionally cool) nickname the Nazis gave these women? The first three people to email these answers to me — please don’t post them! — will win a signed copy of MARE’S WAR along with a bookplate. You have until midnight on Tuesday!

EDIT: Congratulations, Laurie!