Stephen V. Ash describes the Memphis Massacre of 1866, a brutal episode with profound implications for race and democracy
March 9, 2016 In A Massacre in Memphis, Stephen V. Ash tells the story of three days in May 1866 when white mobs rampaged through communities of newly freed blacks, shaping the history of Memphis and the nation. Ash will discuss the book at Rhodes College in Memphis on March 17, 2016, at 6 p.m.
In Mrs. Ravenbach’s Way by William M. Akers, an epic and hilarious battle of wills ensues between a child and his domineering teacher
March 8, 2016 The struggle is real for Toby Wilcox, a fourth-grader at the McKegway School for Clever and Gifted Children. In Mrs. Ravenbach’s Way by William M. Akers, spirited and independent Toby clashes with the overbearing and inflexible Mrs. Ravenbach, leading to an end-of-the-year showdown. Akers will read from his debut middle-grade novel at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 12, 2016, at 2 p.m.
In Forest of Wonders Newbery winner Linda Sue Park gives middle-grade readers an imaginative place for considering moral dilemmas
March 7, 2016 Forest of Wonders is the first book in Linda Sue Park’s new fantasy trilogy, Wing and Claw. The Newbery winner will give a free public reading from her latest novel for middle-grade readers at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 9, 2016, at 6:30 p.m.
In The New York Times, Arnold Weinstein makes a persuasive case for literature
March 7, 2016 Literature teaches the skills of clear writing and close reading, the ability to communicate, and the creativity necessary to see beyond the walls of the cubicle’s box. But there’s a value, too, in what literature gives us that has nothing to do with employment skills, and Memphis native Arnold Weinstein made a case for it recently in The New York Times.
Jeff Crook’s acerbic crime-scene photographer is forced by fate, and restless spirits, to solve another mystery
March 4, 2016 In Jeff Crook’s The Covenant, a recovering heroin addict with a less-than-steady job as a crime-scene photographer can’t afford to turn down work. But when she stumbles across a murder that local police seem disinclined to solve, she starts to wish she’d never left Memphis.
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley has won a Newbery Honor Award, one of the highest distinctions in children’s literature
March 3, 2016 Aimed at middle-grade readers, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War That Saved My Life tells the story of Ada and Jamie, two inner-city British children who are evacuated to the English countryside to keep them safe from Hitler’s bombing attacks on London. Bradley will discuss her Newbery Honor book at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 11, 2016, at 6:30 p.m.
