Helene Dunbar’s new YA novel explores coming of age during the dawn of the AIDS epidemic
In We Are Lost and Found, Helene Dunbar tells the story of three teens navigating the turbulent waters of New York City as the AIDS crisis emerges. Dunbar will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on September 6; Ya-Hoo Fest in Chattanooga on September 21; and the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 11-13.
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The second book in Natalie Lloyd’s Problim Children series is a rollicking adventure filled with uncanny delights
In The Problim Children: Carnival Catastrophe, Chattanooga author Natalie Lloyd weaves startling visions, family secrets, and magical powers into a perfect balance of sweet and tart that’s just plain fun. Lloyd will appear at the 2019 SCBWI Fall Conference autograph party in Franklin on September 14 and Ya-Hoo Fest in Chattanooga on September 21.
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Derrick Barnes’ The King of Kindergarten joyously addresses one of childhood’s biggest milestones
Award-winning author Derrick Barnes’ latest book, The King of Kindergarten, celebrates the joy and pride of a child’s first day of school. Barnes will appear at the 2019 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 11-13.
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A fiercely independent teen must learn how to trust and rely on others
In Better Than the Best Plan, Lauren Morrill’s teenage protagonist finds herself unexpectedly tossed into the foster care system.
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A young woman seeks to unravel her family’s dark secret
House of Salt and Sorrows follows a young heiress as she grapples with a mysterious family curse. Erin A. Craig will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on August 6 and Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 24.
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For more than three decades, Patricia McKissack has been writing children’s books that bring to life the stories, and the truth, of her ancestors
As she was coming of age in Nashville in the 1950s, there were many places award-winning children’s author Patricia McKissack was not allowed to go. She remembers hotels and restaurants that forbade African Americans entry, and movie theaters with a separate doorway in the alley for black patrons. The farthest reaches of the Grand Ole Opry’s balcony, known as the buzzard’s roost, was the only seating open to African Americans, McKissack recalls. She never partook: “My grandfather said that watermelons would bloom in January if any of his children went down there. ‘We don’t sit in no buzzard’s roost,’ he said. ‘We’re human beings, not buzzards.'”
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