Short Story Collection – Unleashing Readers

Gender Swapped Fairy Tales by Karrie Fransman & Jonathan Plackett

February 8, 2022 by Kellee

Gender Swapped Fairy Tales
Creators: Karrie Fransman & Jonathan Plackett
Published October 19, 2021 by Faber & Faber

Summary: Discover a collection of fairy tales unlike the ones you’ve read before . . .

Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, a King sat at a window and sewed. As he sewed and gazed out onto the landscape, he pricked his finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell onto the snow outside.

People have been telling fairy tales to their children for hundreds of years. And for almost as long, people have been rewriting those fairy tales – to help their children imagine a world where they are the heroes. Karrie and Jon were reading their child these stories when they hit upon a dilemma, something previous versions of these stories were missing, and so they decided to make one vital change . . .

They haven’t rewritten the stories in this book. They haven’t reimagined endings, or reinvented characters. What they have done is switch all the genders.

It might not sound like that much of a change, but you’ll be dazzled by the world this swap creates – and amazed by the new characters you’re about to discover.

Hear from the Creators:

Review: This one does some really wonderful things. I love how it pushes the reader to reexamine assumptions we have around the social construct of gender. The author of an article in The Guardian about the book said it best about what truly made this book for me:

Plainly, the core audience is the malleable young mind, a child at the age of such innocence that they haven’t yet internalised the gender prejudice all around them, and who will head into the world thinking of women as adventurers and men as very much in touch with their emotions. But more fascinating – particularly if your children are too old and cynical for such an enterprise – is to read it yourself for what jars, what surprises, what seems implausible, what repels.

While in life I have no problem with a female chief executive, for some reason I can’t get my head around a lady miller. Dads who cook? Sure, I had one of those myself. Yet when “One day [Little Red Riding Hood’s] father, having made some custards, said to him …” I couldn’t even concentrate on the instruction (which is “take these to your grandfather”, obviously) for the din of my interior monologue, saying: “DADS DON’T COOK CUSTARD”.

The obvious and persistent bias – and I wonder whether, also, the most life-defining – is the beauty standard, the fact that a woman is judged by her appearance in a way a man is not, that her ugliness or beauty both inform the world’s view of her and become the whole of her, excluding all other traits. It’s revealed in a fact as simple as “beauty” functioning as a noun where “handsome” does not. How could a handsome man contract into “a handsome”? How would we know how daring he also was? “The Sleeping Handsome in the Wood”, “Handsome and the Beast”, all ram home, with a light, rueful humour, the timeless message to a woman in fiction: be beautiful, or be evil, or go home.

Also, I do want to note that the authors do a great job in their introduction explaining how they wanted to swap the “two dominant gender constructs to disrupt the binary” and that there is definitely a multitude of genders and that their book is not disputing that.

My one downfall for the book is that even though the authors tried really hard to make this as mathematical as possible and with no bias on their part, it still shown through in some ways: why does Rapunzel have to have a long beard instead of long hair? Why does the big bad wolf have on lipstick and heels just because she’s female? I would have loved to see gender norms pushed even more.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: What a fun classroom experience this book would be! Students can take their favorite traditional literature and gender swap it to see how it changes assumptions.

Discussion Questions:

How did changing the gendering words in the book push your thinking while reading?
What stereotypes were pushed in the book just by switching the words?
How did the illustrations add to the story?
Do you think the authors should have changed other aspects of the stories as well?
What purpose did the authors hope to meet by changing these stories in this way?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Love: Fairy Tales

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Katie Halata for providing a copy for review!**

Review and Giveaway!: Snail & Worm All Day: Three Stories About Two Friends by Tina Kügler

December 10, 2019 by Kellee

Snail & Worm All Day
Author and Illustrator: Tina Kügler
Published September 24th, 2019 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Summary: Snail and Worm go on three silly adventures in this early reader chock full of heartfelt humor and irresistible illustrations. By Geisel Honor winner Tina Kügler.

Snail and Worm are back at it and sure to have readers giggling from dawn ’til dusk (wait—do snails and worms sleep?) in Snail and Worm All Day, complete with heartfelt humor and Tina Kügler’s irresistible illustrations.

Brimming with laugh-out-loud jokes, these three new stories are sweet celebrations of cooperation and discovery.

About the Author: Author-illustrator Tina Kügler lives in the Los Angeles area with her artist husband and three sons. When she is not making picture books, she can be found trying to befriend snails and worms in her backyard.www.tinakugler.squarespace.com Twitter: @tinatheatre Instagram: @kuglertina

Praise: ★ “All day, every day, is a good time for reading about Snail and Worm….Run (faster than Snail ever could) to get a copy of this winning early reader.”—Kirkus, STARRED review

“[N]ew readers should feel supported in their efforts while being continually entertained.”—The Horn Book

“Kügler’s clever, off-kilter stories are enhanced by colorful, expressive cartoon illustrations that give strong textual support….This latest Snail and Worm book is a strong addition to all early reader collections and a surefire hit with children and their adults.”—Booklist

“The friendly and cheerful cartoon illustrations effectively enhance the story’s sweet humor.”—School Library Journal

Review: As Trent has entered this world of early chapter and transitional books, I have been so lucky to learn about some amazing books out there, and I was so happy to get introduced to Snail and Worm with this book, and we cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Each of the three stories has a different chance to dig deep during a read aloud. The first story looks at how one bad thing doesn’t need to affect the entire day, the second story looks at habitats and contradictions, and the final story looks at creating a narrative.

Discussion Questions:

When you are having a bad day, what can you think about to make you feel better?
What is a time that you thought something was different than what it was?
What are the similarities and differences between Snail and Worm? Why do you think they are friends?
How was snail a contradiction in the second story?
Who is your best friend?
Which of the three stories was your favorite? Why?
What is a lesson that you learned from the book?
How would the stories change if they were only from Snail’s point of view? Worm’s?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Love: Elephant & Piggie, Frog & Toad, Fox & Chick, and other fun duos

Recommended For:

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Thank you to Jessica at HMH for providing a copy for review and giveaway!**

Feral Youth by Shaun David Hutchinson, Brandy Colbert, Suzanne Young, Tim Floreen, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Stephanie Kuehn, E.C. Myers, Marieke Nijkamp, Robin Talley

June 13, 2019 by Ricki

Feral Youth
Authors: Shaun David Hutchinson, Brandy Colbert, Suzanne Young, Tim Floreen, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Stephanie Kuehn, E.C. Myers, Marieke Nijkamp, Robin Talley
Published: September 5, 2017 by Simon Pulse

Guest Review by Natalia Sperry

Summary: At Zeppelin Bend, an outdoor education program designed to teach troubled youth the value of hard work, cooperation, and compassion, ten teens are left alone in the wild. The teens are a diverse group who come from all walks of life, and they were all sent to Zeppelin Bend as a last chance to get them to turn their lives around. They’ve just spent nearly two weeks learning to survive in the wilderness, and now their instructors have dropped them off eighteen miles from camp with no food, no water, and only their packs, and they’ll have to struggle to overcome their vast differences if they hope to survive.

Inspired by The Canterbury Tales, Feral Youth features characters, each complex and damaged in their own ways, who are enticed to tell a story (or two) with the promise of a cash prize. The stories range from noir-inspired revenge tales to mythological stories of fierce heroines and angry gods. And while few of the stories are claimed to be based in truth, they ultimately reveal more about the teller than the truth ever could.

Review: This is a complex anthology of traditionally ignored teenaged voices that demand to be heard; I couldn’t put it down! Feral Youth is compelling from the front flap to the final page. The distinct voices of all 10 characters shone through in every part, from their individual stories to the transitional narration, creating an established sense of the full cast that is difficult to attain when juggling so many stories.

In this day and age, it feels more important than ever read book that remind us that all people, even those “troubled kids” traditionally written off by society, have a unique story to tell. Though I initially felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of characters (especially those with similar sounding names!) having such a diverse cast of characters share their stories was really rewarding. Those stories, both those intended to be “factual” and those grounded in fantasy, refuse to go quietly from my mind. In a story centered around teens whose voices have been all but silenced by society, I think that’s a victory.

Teacher’s Tool For Navigation: As the book was inspired by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, teachers could have students read the two (or passages from both) and compare and contrast. In particular, looking for thematic parallels could lend itself to discussions about the nature of storytelling and whose voices get told. In that regard, the book could also fit into a unit about “objective truth” in storytelling, perhaps in discussing other narratives or nonfiction.

Even in including the text as a free-reading option, I think it is essential to build empathy through reading diverse stories. Including this text could be not only a way to build empathy, but could provide a starting point for further future reading of a diversity voices as well.

Discussion Questions: What parallels do you find to the Canterbury Tales? Which stories surprised you? Were there any characters you related to that you wouldn’t have anticipated connecting with?

Flagged: “’They think we’re probably nothing but a bunch of animals, but we showed them who we really are. We showed them that they can’t ignore us’” (287).

Read This If You Loved: The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, other YA anthologies

Recommended For:

Discussion Guide for Brave Red, Smart Frog: A New Book of Old Tales by Emily Jenkins

October 27, 2017 by Kellee

Brave Red, Smart Frog: A New Book of Old Tales
Author: Emily Jenkins
Illustrator: Rohan Daniel Eason
Published September 5th, 2017

Summary: Step into a wintry forest where seven iconic fairy tales unfold, retold with keen insight and touches of humor.

There once was a frozen forest so cold, you could feel it through the soles of your boots. It was a strange place where some kisses broke enchantments and others began them. Many said witches lived there — some with cold hearts, others with hot ovens and ugly appetites — and also dwarves in tiny houses made of stones. In this icy wood, a stepmother might eat a girl’s heart to restore her own beauty, while a woodcutter might become stupid with grief at the death of his donkey. Here a princess with too many dresses grows spiteful out of loneliness, while a mistreated girl who is kind to a crone finds pearls dropping from her mouth whenever she speaks. With empathy and an ear for emotion, Emily Jenkins retells seven fairy tales in contemporary language that reveals both the pathos and humor of some of our most beloved stories. Charming illustrations by Rohan Daniel Eason add whimsical details that enhance every new reading.

Discussion Questions include:

“Snow White”
- At the beginning of the story, dwarves are included with witches and sprites, making them feel villainous. How is this
  different from the seven dwarves we meet later in the story? Do they fit the negative connotation or are they different
  from what the villagers assume?
“The Frog Prince”
- After the frog leaves, Crystal is looking for him. Why does she miss his company? How is his company different from those of her ladies-in-waiting and family?
“Red Riding Hood”
- What information that Red shared does the wolf use to his advantage? Do you think he would have successfully been
  able to get into Grandmother’s house without this information?
Author’s Note
- Emily Jenkins explains her intention behind rewriting these stories in the simple way that she did. How did she adhere
  to the traditional stories while also putting her own spin on them?
Entire book
- Consider the names of the characters throughout the book. How does each name give a clue to the character’s
  personality or looks?

Discussion Guide Created by Me (Kellee):

You can also access the teaching guide through Candlewick’s website here.

Recommended For:

Tales from the Arabian Nights: Stories of Adventure, Magic, Love, and Betrayal by Donna Jo Napoli

January 11, 2017 by Kellee

Nonfiction Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!

Tales from the Arabian Nights: Stories of Adventure, Magic, Love, and Betrayal by Donna Jo Napoli
Author: Donna Jo Napoli
Illustrator: Christina Balit
Published October 11th, 2016 by National Geographic Children’s Books

Summary: Classic stories and dazzling illustrations of princesses, kings, sailors, and genies come to life in a stunning retelling of the Arabian folk tales from One Thousand and One Nights and other collections, including those of Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The magical storytelling of award-winning author Donna Jo Napoli dramatizes these timeless tales and ignites childrens’ imaginations.

Review: This short story anthology of Arabian mythology was fascinating, captivating, and beautifully written and illustrated. The layers of themes and stories built upon each other to create a collection that is a wonderful introduction to true traditional literature.

One thing that I at first struggled with but then ended up loving was how stories overlapped with stories. The main story was that a young woman was telling her husband a story every night to keep him in suspense so that he keeps her alive for another night. So within her story, she is telling stories. Then sometimes the characters in her stories, to help her add suspense and cliffhangers, will tell stories. So that meant at times the story you were reading was a story within a story within a story. Sounds confusing but the way it was explained and implemented allowed for the tactic to do what the young woman hoped it would do for her husband–I just had to keep reading!

I also, in my ignorance, had not read any Arabian traditional literature as I only knew the pop culture versions, so I loved learning about the culture and history through their folk tales.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Greek mythology is taught throughout school; however, there are folk tales and mythology from so many other cultures. I would love to see more Arabian folk tales taught during mythology units (and why not more folk tales and mythology from other cultures as well!). Donna Jo Napoli along with Christina Balit already have anthologies for Egyptian and Norse (and Greek), so those are a good place to start!

Discussion Questions: What are some themes you see throughout all of the tales?; How are the stories you were familiar with different than the popular culture versions you knew?

Flagged Passages:

“Princess Budur unfoldedthe letter and her own ring dropped into her palm. She read the letter. At last! She planted her feet against the wall and strained until the iron around her neck snapped. She pulled the curtain aside and threw herself into Qamar al-Zaman’s arms. On that day they were wed.” (p. 72-73)

Read This If You Love: The Arabian Nights by various and other Middle Eastern or Asian stories and folk tales, mythology

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Karen at Media Masters Publicity for providing a copy for review!!**

Author Guest Post!: “How History Revealed the Environmental Story Behind D is for Dudley” by Ron Chandler, Author of D is for Dudley & Other Nature Tales

October 30, 2016 by Kellee

“How History Revealed the Environmental Story Behind D is for Dudley”

As a nature writer I have always been interested in the outdoors and in how people use the resources found there. So it was no different when I became fascinated by sea turtles. Originally, I thought it would be a good story to discuss how different locations handle their nature areas (i.e., states like Massachusetts and Florida have robust programs to protect sea turtles and the beaches that have become their habitat). Then I realized it would be a better story to tell how the use of a land area has changed over time. The land area in question in the story, D is for Dudley, is Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Currently, it is an area the has a lot of small towns and farms that use modern agriculture techniques. But I wondered, How has this area changed in the last 150 years? So in the story the main characters, Valerie and Doug, obtain their great grandfather’s diary, which reveals what Tilghman Cove was like a long time ago. This post will disclose the techniques that I used to unlock that secret.

At one time every area of the country was pristine with untouched landscapes and wild animals roaming everywhere. So I decided to first do research at the local libraries in Easton and Salisbury, Maryland. There I found books retained in special collections that documented the exploits of early explorers. Captain John Smith, the English explorer, was the first European to sail in the Chesapeake Bay. I read his narratives of the areas he explored to get a baseline assessment. Then I looked at how the agriculture industry has changed on the Eastern Shore. Now the main crops are corn and soybeans, but 150 years ago the main crops were wheat and tobacco. In my story I decided to have an entry in the great grandfather’s diary about how he rolled tobacco bales from his farm to the tributary of the Chesapeake Bay to be picked up by a larger ship. This research technique also disclosed several facts I could not use (i.e. wheat milled on the Eastern Shore was transported to Valley Forge to help feed George Washington’s troops during the Revolutionary War.).

My second research technique was to look at how current events repeat themselves and thus, effect the environment. For instance, floods are generally regarded as bad. But flood waters carry silt that replenish areas used to farm crops. In my research of current events, I discovered that about once every five years, a stray manatee from Florida will swim up the East Coast and then the Chesapeake Bay. When the weather turns cold, the manatee will swim back south. So I figured that if a stray manatee can do that now when there is a lot of coastal pollution, then what was it like 150 years ago. So I put a scene in the story about manatees.

Third, no story is realistic without accurate descriptions. To obtain this I visited several untouched nature areas. In Maryland, I spent time at visiting the Pocomoke River, which is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. This area is largely protected and has wetlands and forests along the river which are virtually similar to the landscape that Captain John Smith explored. I also visited Blue Spring Park in Florida to get a close-up look at manatees.

Finally, I took a look at how people talked about their environment 150 years ago. For example, the term “wetland” is a modern term. Back then people would talk about marshes and swamps. I also looked at their use of dialect. This research can be done by reading old letters from early settlers or by listening to the old letters read in documentaries (i.e., programs about the Civil War and other historical events). Then as a final step, I completed a lexicon of the language and terms used back then.

So these four steps (book research, current event research, field trips, and looking at the use of language) can unlock the historical story behind any developed area.

D is for Dudley & Other Nature Tales
Author: Ron Chandler
Published November 2nd, 2015

About the Book: This middle grade reader will raise environmental awareness. The title story is about a brother and sister relying on their wits to try to save the largest terrapin in Tilghman Cove from being hunted by fishermen. The book contains ten other short stories about boys trying to find courage or understand the outdoors and girls struggling to realize their dreams.

About the Author: Ron Chandler is a freelance writer from Baltimore, Maryland. His short stories and poems have been published in over 30 literary magazines including The Binnacle – University of Maine at Machias, Blueline – SUNY Potsdam, Capper’s, Pink Chameleon, Storyteller, and Toasted Cheese.

Thank you to Ron for this key to research!

and

A Tyranny of Petticoats Blog Tour with Author Q&As by Caroline Richmond, Lindsay Smith, and Robin Talley

March 4, 2016 by Kellee

A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers, and Other Badass Girls
Authors: Various
Published March 8th, 2016 by Candlewick Press

Summary: From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of historical fiction and fantasy featuring a diverse array of daring heroines.

Criss-cross America — on dogsleds and ships, stagecoaches and trains — from pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago. Join fifteen of today’s most talented writers of young adult literature on a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They’re making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.

With stories by:
J. Anderson Coats
Andrea Cremer
Y. S. Lee
Katherine Longshore
Marie Lu
Kekla Magoon
Marissa Meyer
Saundra Mitchell
Beth Revis
Caroline Richmond
Lindsay Smith
Jessica Spotswood
Robin Talley
Leslye Walton
Elizabeth Wein

A Tyranny of Petticoats Blog Tour!

The authors of this anthology are as diverse as their characters, so to give readers a better sense of their diverse processes and experiences writing for this anthology, the following three questions were asked of each contributor:

1. What inspired you to write about this particular time and place?

2. What was the most interesting piece of research you uncovered while writing your story?

3. Who is your favorite woman in history and why?

Today we are happy to host Caroline Richmond, Lindsay Smith, and Robin Talley as they answer those questions for us:

Caroline Tung Richmond
Story title: “The Red Raven Ball”
Story setting: 1862, Washington, D.C.

About the Author: CAROLINE TUNG RICHMOND is the author of The Only Thing to Fear and the forthcoming The Darkest Hour, a YA novel set in Occupied France during World War II. A self-proclaimed history nerd, Caroline lives with her husband and daughter in the Washington, D.C., area — not far from several Civil War battlefields.

What inspired you to write about this particular time and place?
- As a kid growing up in the Washington, D.C., area, I’ve always been fascinated by the Civil War. It always struck me how D.C. — the capital of the Union — butted right up against the Confederate border. The city was well-fortified, but it still must’ve been scary to live in the capital during the war, with Confederate troops looming nearby. So when Jessica Spotswood kindly invited me to contribute to A Tyranny of Petticoats, I immediately wanted to set my short story in Washington during the Civil War, and that’s how “The Red Raven Ball” came to be.
What was the most interesting piece of research you uncovered while writing your story?
- Finding an old photo of my husband’s ancestors! My husband is related to a famous nineteenth-century politician named Robert Ingersoll — dubbed “the most famous American you never heard of” by the Washington Post — and I wove a few details of his life into “The Red Raven Ball.” While researching Ingersoll, I came across a photo of him with his family. It was such a treat to study their faces and know that their blood runs in my daughter’s veins!
Who is your favorite woman in history and why?
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, hands down! Stanton dedicated her life to fighting for women’s suffrage in the United States, and she was basically a nineteenth-century badass lady. One example of her awesomeness? Prior to her wedding, she instructed the minister to omit the phrase “promise to obey” from her vows. She also raised seven kids while working tirelessly as a suffragette, abolitionist, and social activist. She’s truly an inspiration to me.

Lindsay Smith
Story title: “The City of Angels”
Story Setting: 1945, Los Angeles, CA

About the Author: LINDSAY SMITH is the author of the Sekret series of paranormal spy thrillers set in Soviet Russia, and Dreamstrider, a high fantasy adventure. She grew up watching far too many movies from the 1940s — from Abbott and Costello comedies to musicals to anything dazzling with old Hollywood glamour. Not one for California weather, however, she lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and dog, and writes on foreign affairs.

What inspired you to write about this particular time and place?
- I’m deeply drawn to twentieth-century history — that sense of immediacy while still being at a slight historical remove is fascinating to me. When Jessica Spotswood mentioned she hadn’t gotten any story proposals set during World War II, I knew I wanted to pick that time period. The idea of a home-front drama really appealed to me because of the significant roles women got to play in the war effort that they had rarely been offered before the 1940s. Evelyn’s and Frankie’s characters just grew organically from that setting.
What was the most interesting piece of research you uncovered while writing your story?
- I fell down a rabbit hole researching all the tiny details of munitions and airplane factory life for women during World War II. They could earn the right to fly particular banners over their factories, for instance, if they sold enough war bonds. All of the home-front stories I read as research were inspiring, though — that curious mix of patriotism, determination, and sisterhood these women felt as they tended victory gardens, rationed meat, and collected scrap metal for the war effort.
Who is your favorite woman in history and why?
- I love disruptive women in history! Catherine the Great, Alice Roosevelt, Empress Dowager Cixi — all women who cared nothing for others’ opinions of them and didn’t let others stand in their way when they set out to accomplish their goals.

Robin Talley
Story title: “The Whole World is Watching”
Story setting: 1968, Grant Park, IL

About the Author: ROBIN TALLEY is the author of Lies We Tell Ourselves, a finalist for the 2015 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Children’s/Young Adult, as well as the contemporary novel What We Left Behind and the upcoming thriller As I Descended. Robin lives in Washington, D.C., where she enjoys being surrounded by history, though she’s glad to be living in the twenty-first century.

What inspired you to write about this particular time and place?
- Nineteen sixty-eight was a time of massive protests across the United States — much like the present day. I was interested in exploring the history of antiwar protests in the 1960s and how they intersected with the ongoing civil rights movement, the burgeoning feminist movement, and the very early days of the movement in support of equal rights for LGBTQIA+ people. As an added bonus, the sixties had some truly amazing clothes, hairstyles, and slang that were fun to think about.
What was the most interesting piece of research you uncovered while writing your story?
- The antiwar protests at the Chicago 1968 Democratic National Convention were crushed by what were then considered extreme police tactics, and there was a national outcry after video of the police brutality was shown on live TV. Hundreds of demonstrators were injured by police and National Guard officers who dramatically outnumbered the protestors and who didn’t hesitate to use violence against them. In my research I learned that the police tactics used were unheard of at the time, such as the use of military-style weapons like tear gas and the wearing of protective gear like riot helmets over their regular clothing. But today many police units combating protests in places like Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland, have taken much more extreme approaches, including the use of advanced military gear and weaponry. It was interesting to learn how things have progressed in terms of police tactics, and the public’s reaction to them, over the past few decades. What was once considered extreme would be considered commonplace, maybe even tame, by today’s standards.
Who is your favorite woman in history and why?
- There are way too many to pick just one favorite! So I’ll name the woman who I think is the obvious choice to go on U.S. currency (preferably the twenty-dollar bill so we can get rid of Andrew Jackson) — Harriet Tubman. Through sheer determination and a lot of skill she took the biggest risk imaginable — and she succeeded, changing the lives of so many and changing the world at the same time.

Don’t miss the other stops on the blog tour!

Wednesday, March 2 A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust
·         J. Anderson Coats
·         Andrea Cremer
·         Y. S. Lee

Thursday, March 3 Charting by the Stars
·         Marissa Meyer
·         Saundra Mitchell
·         Beth Revis

Friday, March 4 Unleashing Readers
·         Caroline Richmond
·         Lindsay Smith
·         Robin Talley

Monday, March 7 Teach Mentor Text
·         Katherine Longshore
·         Marie Lu
·         Kekla Magoon

Tuesday, March 8th YA Love
·         Leslye Walton
·         Elizabeth Wein
·         Jessica Spotswood

Tyranny of Petticoats is on sale March 8th!

and

**Thank you to Kathleen at Candlewick for having us as a part of the blog tour!**