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All this is not to say that I wouldn't quietly admit to myself, sometimes, that I might actually be the thing I've always wanted to be since I was seven-a writer, writing. I breathed it, but it always seemed such a mystery to me how and why I could do it from one book to another. Would I write between planting seasons when everything was in bloom and only needed watering and weeding? Would I write before or after my nieces and nephew and their compatriots started running in and out of my house dripping pool water and Popsicles? Maybe the writing could wait while I read a book in a lawn chair and watched them happily splash the summer away. Perhaps I would start to write after the leaves fell, so that I wouldn't miss a moment of them turning red and gold. If I was inside my house writing, I would miss the smell of wood smoke or the coolness of early fall days. Of course, here I have to allow that because I have had the time for all of the above while working at home, I seemed not to connect any of it with my writing. It was just a fluke, I thought. Who could be so lucky? A writer! Was I one of them? When I had trouble deciding what I was really doing with my days, the daylilies would bloom, a great movie would show up at the Plaza Cinemas, or children would suddenly appear and stay awhile, letting those thoughts fade away. Through all of these distractions, who was to make me stay in my office, finish ten pages of that novel, or round out that picture book that had been staring at me each time I walked by it for a month? The answer was no one. But miraculously, a few times a year I would indeed let some kind and patient person in another state know that I had somehow done it again. Magic. A book. So, it came to me the other day that all of my days are what I do. All of my days have everything to do with how and why I write. You see, every time I have ever tried to sit in my office overlooking the flower garden and try to force myself to write for a couple of hours a day, I'd just end up watching an old movie or going for a walk. I need the walks, the gardening, and the day-trips as much as my word processor to enable me to write. Now I know this. So, I am indeed a writer, and other things too, thankfully. Thus, I happily try to make all the distinct parts work for me. They have everything to do with me being a writer. |
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The Aunt in Our House Price $15.95 (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) "Johnson's cryptic tale suggests questions, then leaves it wholly to the reader to answer them. Told by the older of two siblings who live with their white father and African American mother, the story opens on an affectionate note The child tells how The Aunt helps Mama weave blankets and rugs, lets the youngsters play her trumpet and encourages them to splash in puddles barefoot.Intentionally vague, the text leaves readers wondering why and for how long the Aunt has come to stay, and why she is occasionally so sad. Well-matched to the expressiveness of the narrative, Soman's watercolor and pastel illustrations appear to move in and out of focus, depending on the mood of the moment, and effectively convey the characters' changeable emotions." Publishers Weekly |
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Bird Price: $15.99 |
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A Cool Moonlight Price: $14.99 "Once in a while a book of prose appears that reads as pure poetry. Such is the case with Johnson's newest novel. Fiercely quiet in its language, this powerful story touches the reader in unexpected ways. It is not the most unusual allergy afflicting the main character Lila that intrigues the audience, so much as it is how Lila uses her imagination to make peace with her condition. In a way that perhaps only the innocent are, Lila comes to a profound and complete acceptance of the situation over which she has no control. Young people and adults alike will be encouraged by the particulars of Lila's story, detailing the enormous harm with which sunlight threatens her. Especially important is how the adults around Lila allow her to grow and come to terms with the dangerous infirmity that would steal her childhood. Although many stories are about love, this one is about the most important love of all-love of self-and for young people, there can be no more important lesson. On the surface, Lila's story measures simple as a song, but straining beneath the unpretentious lyrics, a competing and memorable ensemble of what it means to shine with life reverberates. Courage, hope, and friendship are all found in this little gem of a novel. No library should be without it." VOYA |
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Price: $6.95 "Joyously written and illustrated, these four poems reflect the concerns of children" School Library Journal |
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Price: 15.95 (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) "'In the morning my big sister Kyla stands at the window, tapping at the birds. I do like Kyla. . . .' So begins a day of follow the leader between a young child and her older sister. . . . A universal story that features a warm and loving black family."--School Library Journal |
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Price: $15.95 (OUT OF STOCK) "In this tender picture book, Johnson and Evans pay tribute to an enviable treasure: wise and loving family elders. Every summer a girl and her brother and father drive "down the winding road" to the country, for a visit with the Old Ones, the seven aunts and uncles who raised Daddy." Publishers Weekly |
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Price: $15.95 "In this companion novel, Johnson's fans learn just how Bobby, the single father for whom Marley baby-sits in Heaven, landed in that small town in Ohio. Beginning his story when his daughter, Feather, is just 11 days old, 16-year-old Bobby tells his story in chapters that alternate between the present and the bittersweet past that has brought him to the point of single parenthood....But as the past and present threads join in the final chapter, readers will only clamor for more about this memorable father-daughter duo-and an author who so skillfully relates the hope in the midst of pain." Publisher's Weekly WINNER OF THE 2004 CORETTA SCOTT KING AWARD (WRITING CATEGORY) WINNER OF THE 2004 MICHAEL L. PRINTZ AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE |
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Price: $4.99 (OUT OF STOCK) "In these 12 well-honed stories told in first-person narrative, Johnson zeroes in on the idealism and resiliency that make young people a powerful force in the world" Publishers Weekly |
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Price: $16.00 "Marley thinks her life in Heaven, Ohio, is perfect and secure. But when she learns that her itinerant uncle is really her father and her loving "parents" are her aunt and uncle, she has to come to terms with her feelings of anger, betrayal, and curiosity as to who she really is. Foreshadowing, humor, and well-defined characters work together to create a strong story about belonging and family." The Horn Book |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE This "luminous" novel, said Publishers Weekly in a Starred review, "offers a delicate yet unflinching look at the shadows that spread over families of schizophrenics.... a story of subtle but real hope." |
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I Dream of Trains Price: $17.95 "This powerfully illustrated picture book looks at legendary engineer Casey Jones through the eyes of a fictional black child who toils in a cotton field near the railroad tracks. In low, reverential tones, the text speaks both of the folk hero's mystique and the narrator's eagerness to experience Casey's big world...Johnson's treatment of Casey's tragic, heroic death is particularly respectful and moving. Long's moody acrylic paintings, mainly in subdued tones, are a sterling accompaniment to the book's provocative prose" School Library Journal |
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Price: $16.95 (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) "In this exuberant celebration of love and sharing, Maya is given an Alaskan pig and learns that friendship is a two-way street. Johnson's humorous, upbeat text rings with its own rhythm as it introduces Julius, a pig with a fondness for old movies, trying on clothes (``anything blue and stretchy'') and eating peanut butter ``from the jar, without getting any on the ceiling.''Pilkey's ( When Cats Dream ) illustrations are a felicitous departure for this gifted artist. Painted in blocks of fluorescent color, his paintings zing with the joy of living and perfectly capture the book's infectious carnival spirit.Jubilant and subtly instructive." Publishers Weekly |
Price: $16.95 "Peck's strong, evocative pastels with their vintage look are just right for Johnson's home run of a story. A girl tells of her Grandmama's birth and how her dad said his new baby would play just like the great Negro League catcher Josh Gibson. And so she did, practicing her hitting even though girls didn't play baseball in the '50s-except for one Fourth of July, when her cousin Danny's injury leaves an opening on his team. Grandmama hit the ball, caught the ball, and stole home-"just like Josh Gibson.".... Johnson never disappoints; in this one memory, family stories and baseball braid together a sweetly powerful and slyly subversive tale" Kirkus Reviews |
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Price: $15.95 "'I think it's like walking barefoot in a room full of broken glass, when someone you love goes away,' notes the bereaved young narrator of Johnson's (Heaven) penetrating novel set in a seaside town on Cape Cod. Mike (short for Michaela) initially tells readers, simply and rather enigmatically, that 'one day my brother, Red, just disappeared from us forever'...While the elegiac pace and impressionistic prose may challenge many readers, those mourning a loss are likely to find Mike's incisive observations familiar and comforting." Publishers Weekly |
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Price: $5.50 "When Charlene (aka Charlie) first moves to Magnolia Street, she is apprehensive. There seem to be no kids around, and her brother claims they have all been stolen by the maniac monkeys that inhabit the willow trees on the street. But Charlie, full of spunk, immediately finds a kindred spirit on the block named Billy. Together they discover the secrets and treasures of the neighborhood. . . . In a series of connected stories, Johnson brings Magnolia Street to life through the ever-curious Charlie, who is always open to the small wonders around her. Newly independent readers will enjoy Charlie's escapades as she makes herself at home on her new street." Booklist |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE "Gr 7 Up-Kids who are geeks, unathletic, poor, emotionally fragile, loners, or unattractive by current standards form the heart of this collection of exceptional stories by well-known YA authors such as Joan Bauer, Chris Crutcher, and M. E. Kerr. Inspired by the events at Columbine High School, the authors pondered what sorts of heartbreak could cause teens to react so powerfully and violently, and how being isolated and shut out of high school groups could tear down the fragile walls of self-esteem, making vulnerable individuals snap and cause massive destruction...A must-buy for all libraries." School Library Journal |
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Price: $6.95 "Narrated by the youngest child in a black family, this . . . book focuses on the joy of being one of three sisters. . . . Of course, the older sisters don't always want the youngest along, but then she gets to be one of a different kind of three with her mother and father." School Library Journal |
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Price: $15.95 (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) "These verses by the versatile African-American writer give readers glimpses at her years growing up in the small town of Shorter, ALShe presents vivid images-mothers stripping their children in the Wash-a-Teria to launder their clothes; houses smelling of "cinnamon and dead flowers;" getting up enough nerve to ask the secret of growing old. She touches on topics such as Vietnam, racism, and the Black Panthers, but also recalls dancing in the woods with a "boom box blasting through the trees." This slim volume just may open up increased awareness and understanding about the way things were-and how they sometimes still are" School Library Journal A CORETTA SCOTT KING HONOR BOOK |
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Price: $15.95 (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) "Catalanotto's golden pencil-and-watercolors paintings shimmer with the haze of memory and are dappled with summer sunlight and shadow." Pointer, Kirkus Reviews AN AMERICAN BOOKSELLER KIDS' PICK OF THE LIST |
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Price: $15.95 (OUT OF STOCK) "With only the most tenuous memories of her mother, the young narrator of these evocative poems thrives with a loving father and her Aunt Lucille. But when her father says she can visit her mother, Ludie, the narrator's longing surfaces the longing of a daughter, who doesn't 'step/ on/ cracks./ Ever/ .../ More careful than the others/ with/ mothers/ that they take for granted.'...these free verse poems express a young woman's yearning for the presence of a mother and the universal feelings of adolescence." Publishers Weekly |
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Price: $15.95(NO LONGER AVAILABLE) "It is 1975 in Harvey, Ohio, a town that Doreen's mother says is becoming full of newly divorced women and their kids. Mama Dot claims that kids don't get divorced, but Doreen knows better. With a tart tongue and heart-wrenching lyricism, Doreen narrates this story, watching as her adored younger brother expresses, in a variety of ways, how distraught he is by their father's move to Chicago....Another tender and eloquent book from a gifted writer." Booklist Starred review. AN AMERICAN BOOKSELLER "PICK OF THE LISTS" |
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Price: $16.95 |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE "In this touching picture book, a mother and a preschool-aged daughter talk together as the child is being prepared for bed. . . . Mama's childhood memories, as related by her daughter, are warm slices of life from a previous generation."--School Library Journal, starred review. |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE "This poetic tribute praises and remembers the men, "the fathers," who built the bridges, railroads, roads, and buildings in AmericaThe endnote states that oral tradition remembers many cultures at work building and that women who are not mentioned in the text nonetheless labored along with men. It is elegantly and symbolically illustrated with an old man in dress shoes and a suit resting peacefully in a hammock" School Library Journal |
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Price: $15.95 (NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, praised this ``thoughtfully nuanced and penetrating'' novel about three generations of women from an African American family who must cope with a beloved grandmother's illness. |
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Price: $16.99 "This is a jazzy story about an African-American girl who loves music. From the time she was a baby banging out rhythms with her rattle or a two-year-old making a horn to toot on or a kindergartner looking for other kids with the same passion, Violet played and sang, and hummed and thought about music all the time..With an upbeat text that uses lots of sound words, this tale celebrates music as much as it applauds being true to what you love. Violet seems perfectly happy to keep on making music and looking for fellow musicians."School Library Journal |
NO LONGER AVAILABLE "Through the eyes of young Daisy, readers experience and anticipate the preparations for her sister's weddingThe simple text follows Daisy and her family as they celebrate and then say a tearful good-bye to Sister. the illustrations portray a warm, loving African-American family. The distinguished collage artwork conveys the action and the whole range of emotions that the day entails. Both text and illustrations work together to create a seamless experience that is happy, sad, and tender all at once. A perfect book for preparing for that special day." School Library Journal |
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Price: $6.95 (OUT OF STOCK) "A small child imagines a future when he will be old with his Grandaddy. . . . The African-American child and grandfather are distinct individuals, yet also universal figures, recognizable to anyone who has ever shared the bond of family love across generations."--School Library Journal, Starred review. |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE "Angela Johnson returns to the characters and setting of Maniac Monkeys on Magnolia Street with When Mules Flew on Magnolia Street. Now that Charlie has settled into her new neighborhood, she is only too delighted to observe all the goings-on, including the arrival of two teenage girls and their father, a magician (the kind who saws people in half)." Publishers Weekly |
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Author Current Location: Honorarium:
Program Description As the author of picture books, middle-grade fiction and young adult novels, Ms. Johnson is comfortable talking to children of all ages. She will do three presentations a day and can give readings from her works with a question and answer period, or lead a discussion of the writing process. Ms. Johnson can talk about how she became a writer and the process of creating a book. Her presentations vary in length depending on the age of the audience. Ms. Johnson will work with groups of no more than 50 children. |
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