About this item
The summer of 1898 is filled with ups and downs for 11-year-old Moses. He's growing apart from his best friend, his superstitious Boo-Nanny butts heads constantly with his pragmatic, educated father, and his mother is reeling from the discovery of a family secret. Yet there are good times, too. He's teaching his grandmother how to read. For the first time she's sharing stories about her life as a slave. And his father and his friends are finally getting the respect and positions of power they've earned in the Wilmington, North Carolina, community. But not everyone is happy with the political changes at play and some will do anything, including a violent plot against the government, to maintain the status quo.One generation away from slavery, a thriving African American community - enfranchised and emancipated - suddenly and violently loses its freedom in turn of the century North Carolina when a group of local politicians stages the only successful coup d'etat in US history.
About the Author
Barbara Wright grew up in High Point, North Carolina and went to the University of North Carolina. After college, she spent two years in Seoul, Korea, teaching English to Koreans and editing a hotel magazine about Korean culture. From there she traveled alone through Southeast Asia and Burma, and then rode from Nepal to London in an army truck with roll-up canvas sides, camping out in the desert at a time when Afghanistan and Iran were open to travelers. She has also lived in France, El Salvador, New York, Kansas City, and at present lives in Denver with her husband Frank Gay. Her first novel, EASY MONEY, was published by Algonquin Books. Her Dust Bowl novel PLAIN LANGUAGE (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster) is a love story about two strangers who meet and start a ranch during the worst ecological disaster the country has faced. The novel won a Spur Award from the Association of Western Writers. CROW (Random House) is a novel for young readers about the 1898 race riot and coup d'état in Wilmington, NC. It received starred reviews in Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, The Horn Book, and School Library Journal. In her spare time she plays tennis and jazz piano.
