To my surprise, one of the books shown as part of what she reads was The Giver, by Lois Lowry, the 1994 Newbery Award winner that I finished a week ago and couldn’t decide – as one person asked me – have  you decided whether you like it or not? Since Cline Ransome enjoys dystopian books, that label helped me understand why I had such a hard time with it. The pace was easy, and the graduations that adults and children looked forward to seemed so benign that I never foresaw the gruesome climax and the hair-raising escape. Did I like it? The thought of it makes me wince, so no, but the writing was masterful.

On the way out of the meeting at Writers and Books, I picked up a copy of (585) Kids Fall 2023, which I hadn’t seen before. Congratulations to the contributors to this delightful holiday guide. It was a fun to recognize names of people I’d met through RACWI like our wonderful President Sarah Mead, librarian Deena Viviani, and puzzle master David Kalvitis.

It amazes me that I to belong to such a wonderful group as RACWI that brings big-name authors and illustrators to Rochester. While I am looking forward to signing copies at MCC from 1 to 4 p.m. and giving a short powerpoint on the Frederick Douglass family at 3:20 p.m., mostly I am grateful for being a happy cog in the great wheel of such a wonderful day. The festival website is: rcbfestival.com.

http://rokeefehistory.com/blog: #RCBF; #MCC; #RACWI; #LesaClineRansome; #WritersandBooks; #585Kids; #TheGiver; #LoisLowry; #NewberyAward; #dystopianfiction;