Black and White Review and Giveaway

Thought for the day:  You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children. ~Madeleine L’Engle~

Joyce Moyer Hostetter

A gift for my writer friends. I have a few links I think are really worth checking out. The first is for Joyce Moyer Hostetter’s blog. Joyce has three spectacular books published and now she has all three book trailers up on her blog. Take a look at what she has put together. If you aren’t familiar with her wonderful books, you can take a look at the trailers and become fascinated. If you are interested in how to make a great book trailer, these are terrific examples.

http://joycemoyerhostetter.blogspot.com/p/book-trailers.html

Who doesn’t need a few rules for writing? The New York Times ran an article recently with the humble title of “How to Write,” by Colson Whitehead. The subtitle says “The art of writing can be reduced to a few simple rules. I share them with you now.” Like I said, humble. But there is some good stuff in here. Take a look.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/books/review/colson-whiteheads-rules-for-writing.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em&exprod=myyahoo

For my fabulous, albeit late again, giveaway, the winner is J. M. Naszady! Congratulations to you, J. M. I will be sending you a copy of Liar & Spy. I think you will love it. I know I did. I have another giveaway for today, so stay tuned.

I have been busy, busy, busy with some writing projects and with my teaching responsibilities. Today my daughter mentioned she was going to put up a blog post while she had her iPhone in  her hand, then she said she was done!  I asked her if she already had it written, and she told me that sometimes she just posts a beautiful photo. I might just do that now and again when I’m really busy. But for this week, I’m going to post a book review that I wrote for the Sacramento Book Review a while back and offer a copy of the wonderful book I reviewed. It’s a great book and I know you will be interested. So here we go.

Black and White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor

Posted in the Sacramento Book Review January 04, 2012

5 Star Review

By Larry Dane Brimner
Boyds Mills Press, $16.95, 80 pages
ISBN 9781590787663
The civil rights movement had a long, torturous path, but with all its twists and turns it traveled often, and importantly, through Birmingham, Alabama. While the name Martin Luther King, Jr. immediately comes to mind when thinking of the movement, others who are often forgotten greatly influenced the successful conclusion of the movement. Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth is one of those. It was he who stood strong in a leadership role facing off against Eugene “Bull” Connor, stringent segregationist and city commissioner in charge of police and firemen in Birmingham during that time. The struggle was long, difficult, and often brutal.

“Bombings were not unusual in Birmingham. Since the 1940s, dynamite had been set off at more than forty black homes and churches, earning the city its nickname: ‘Bombingham.’”

Larry Dane Brimner, author of Birmingham Sunday, tells the story of the fight for freedom and rights in Birmingham with a fascinating, well-researched text. It is presented powerfully in a large format with plenty of supporting archival photographs and newspaper articles. The design of black-and-white photographs and text on black, red, and white pages a perfect configuration for this important story of the battle for freedom and rights and the people who sacrificed for it, emblematic of a time of shame in our country followed by triumph by those in the civil rights movement.

I can’t recommend this book enough. As kids study our county’s history, this period is one of the most relevant and fascinating. The books is beautifully written and designed and will keep everyone, kids and adults alike, turning the pages.

I’ll try to get back to more regular posting and announce the winner soon. If you would like this great book, leave a comment. If you post a link on Facebook or your own blog or some such sharing, let me know and I’ll put your name in a second time. Good luck!

On the book giveaway, this is for U.S. only. Sorry, but it would be too expensive for me to send books out of the country. But please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Remember, if you have trouble leaving a comment, click on the title of the post and it will give you just this post with a comments section on the bottom. Also, if you haven’t signed up by email, please do. Just look in the upper right-hand corner of this page, pop your email address in, and you will receive an email each time I put up a new post. Your information will not be shared with anyone.