New Release & Guest Post~Dark Was The Night: Blind Willie Johnson's Journey to the Stars by Gary Golio

Release date: August 25th 2020

Illustrated by: E.B. Lewis

Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books

Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

The poignant story of Blind Willie Johnson--the legendary Texas musician whose song "Dark Was the Night" was included on the Voyager I space probe's Golden Record

Willie Johnson was born in 1897, and from the beginning he loved to sing--and play his cigar box guitar. But his childhood was interrupted when he lost his mother and his sight. How does a blind boy make his way in the world? Fortunately for Willie, the music saved him and brought him back into the light. His powerful voice, combined with the wailing of his slide guitar, moved people. Willie made a name for himself performing on street corners all over Texas. And one day he hit it big when he got a record deal and his songs were played on the radio. Then in 1977, his song--"Dark Was the Night"--was chosen to light up the darkness when it was launched into space on the Voyager I space probe's famous Golden Record. His immortal song was selected for the way it expresses the loneliness humans all feel, while reminding us we're not alone.

I've been a blues fan for a long time. Early on in my teens, when I listened to Hendrix and a lot of the 60s groups (Paul Butterfield, Cream, Animals), I was hooked on their American blues roots, what inspired them, and gave their music its spark.

Funny thing about those English groups like Cream and the Stones--Hendrix was the first Black American blues man they'd ever met, though Jimi took those roots and sprung some new flowers.

Many years later, in 2002, I wrote my first book for kids about Jimi because I was playing electric blues myself, and appreciated the traditions I heard in his work. Then in 2015, I read two long articles about Blind Willie Johnson--a blind Texas gospel singer and slide guitarist whose music was also steeped in the blues. I was fascinated by the course of his life, and how--three decades after he died--his unforgettable song, "Dark Was the Night," ended up being rocketed into space on the Voyager I space probe's Golden Record (along with Beethoven, Chuck Berry, Bach, and the sights and sounds of Earth).

It's a great story about the surprising turns a life can take--especially when you might think that someone's story has come to an end. Willie had some hit records back in the late 1920s but was pretty much forgotten until Reverend Gary Davis started telling young blues guitarists about him in the 60s.

Then Carl Sagan came along in 1977 with Voyager and asked musicologist John Lomax to help him refine his choices for the amazing Golden Record (kind of like the first CD-ROM). Lomax included Willie's "Dark Was the Night" because he felt it was the embodiment of human loneliness. Something extra-terrestrials would need to know about Earth people if they ever happened upon the space probe and its Golden Record.

Amazing to think that, right now, Voyager is out there beyond our solar system (still transmitting!), and on it is the song of a blind man, telling us not to be afraid of the dark. And if that ain't the heart of the blues, I don't know what is!

About the Author

Gary Golio is the author of several best-selling and award-winning musical picture-book biographies, including Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow, When Bob Met Woody, and Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane’s Musical Journey. Gary Golio lives in Hudson Valley, New York.

www.garygolio.com

Review: Walking with Miss Millie by Tamara Bundy

Release date: July 4th 2017
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin
Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis via Goodreads:

A poignant middle grade debut about the friendship between a white girl and an elderly black woman in the 1960s South

Alice is angry at having to move to Rainbow, Georgia—a too small, too hot, dried-up place she’s sure will never feel like home. Then she gets put in charge of walking her elderly neighbor’s dog. But Clarence won’t budge without Miss Millie, so Alice and Miss Millie walk him together. Strolling with Miss Millie quickly becomes the highlight of Alice’s day, as she learns about the town’s past and meets a mix of its catty and kind residents. As the two become confidantes, Alice is finally able to express her heartache over her father’s desertion; and when Miss Millie tells her family story, Alice begins to understand the shameful history of Segregation, and recognize the racism they need to fight against. Navigating the neighborhood with Miss Millie gives Alice new perspective, the wisdom to move on from her anger, and even enables her to laugh again.

Tamara Bundy’s beautifully written story reminds readers that there is nothing like friendship to lighten one’s load, and make anyplace a home.

*I received a finished hardcopy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I've been trying to read more middle grade books this year because I do like the genre and sometimes I just want to re-experience seeing things through the eyes of a child. Walking with Miss Millie is the debut novel of Tamara Bundy and I'm glad that I got the chance to read it because I ended up liking the story.

Ten-year-old Alice is angry that her mother has uprooted her and Eddie, her little brother, and is moving them to the small town of Rainbow to better take care of Alice's grandmother. It's easy for readers to say Alice is selfish and should understand the situation, but you have to keep her age in mind and realize that this is a child leaving behind friends, the only home she's known, and a life she was used to and felt safe in. Not only that, but her parents were going through something and her father had pretty much turned his back on them. But for most of the story, Alice remains hopeful that he will come for his family, swoop up everybody and take them back to their home. So in the meantime, she works on collecting items that will remind her parents, specifically her father, of their love for each other, all while walking with Miss Millie and her dog. 

It was so funny how Alice came to walking with her neighbor. The thing with the phone is actually new to me and I'm glad they don't do that anymore. My gosh, I can't even imagine having a conversation that might not be for anyone else's ears and my neighbor is listening in on the call. Yikes. Anyway, it was an innocent mistake on Alice's part but her mom insisted that she find a way to make it up to Miss Millie, and so the young girl is asked to walk the old dog, Clarence. However, Clarence refuses to be taken by Alice alone, understandable because trust needs to be built, so in turn, Miss Millie starts walking with them just until her dog becomes comfortable with Alice. 

Their walks turned out to be rather informative, not only for little Alice but also for me. The things Miss Millie had endured were just heartbreaking. She'd lost so much, and every time she shared a painful story it made me even more upset that racism still exists today! I looked forward to the next walk like Alice and loved the bond these two characters had established, a black woman of old age and a white girl at only ten, in a time and community that still wasn't all accepting of them being friends.

While Alice is growing fond of Miss Millie and Clarence, she fights to hold on to the belief that their current situation is temporary and she's still waiting for her father, no matter how life proved otherwise. She didn't want to allow herself to start liking this new town and its few nice people like her neighbor, the interesting character Pam and her brother that wasn't as mean as other members of their family. But as her father started to disappoint her more and more and the truth became too obvious to ignore, Alice finally came to the realization that she was at home with her grandmother and mother, and even with Miss Millie. In fact, I think her old neighbor played a big part in helping Alice see things clearly and learning to understand that life is tough and sometimes you just have to make the best of the situation. I thought it was amazing that such a young girl could grow so much mentally and at times turned out to be way more mature than some of the people in Rainbow. 

Aside from the friendship between Miss Millie and Alice, I also liked Pam's character and the way she connected with Eddie. She tried her best to communicate with him and even went as far as to learn sign language. Not many people would make such a nice attempt and it's sad that Alice tried to push her away earlier, but I got why she did that and was happy when she started to let Pam in. In regards to the mom, I would have loved for her to be in the story more. It's really sad what's happening to the grandmother but Alice's mom is a great daughter and she did a good job with Alice and her brother. 

To conclude, Walking with Miss Millie is a great story with youthful writing and interesting main characters. I loved how it's not only depicting an unlikely friendship in a time where that didn't happen a lot, but I also like that you can learn from the story and possibly use a character like ten-year-old Alice to inspire change in your life and others. 

About the Author

Tamara Bundy is a high school English teacher with a Master’s degree in writing, and is a former columnist for the Cincinnati Post (her regular column on being a mom also appeared on EWTN global Catholic radio). Walking Miss Millie is her debut novel. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

Behind the Pages #31: Tamara Bundy talks her debut novel 'Walking with Miss Millie' + Giveaway

Hey, guys! I'm finally back with another Behind the Pages feature, and I'm pleased that it is a debut author this time around, which also happens to be the first interview on the blog since the start of 2017. Tamara Bundy has recently debuted her middle-grade novel, Walking with Miss Millie (a book that I liked by the way), and I'm happy that I had the opportunity to discuss the book and more with her. Not only that, Penguin Random House is contributing a copy of the book to one lucky winner from the U.S. So continue below for the interview and giveaway.

Thanks for taking the time, Tamara. Where are you from and at what point in your life did you realize you wanted to become an author.

I grew up in Hilliard, Ohio (a suburb of Columbus-the same place my main character, Alice, wants to return to). I fell in love with the play of words from Dr. Seuss by the age of seven. I loved rhythm and rhyme and began to write poetry.  The first time someone said I was a good writer, I was hooked and wanted to write ever since. 

Who are some of your biggest influences in literature?

Of course, I loved Dr. Seuss, who taught me words can be both fun and meaningful. As I grew, I enjoyed Judy Blume who could tell a story like she was your best friend, Madeleine L’ Engle whose imagination both scared and entertained me and Shel Silverstein whose poetry made me laugh and cry. But I also won’t underestimate the impact my Archie comic books had on my desire to tell a story. 

How has being an English teacher and former columnist for the Cincinnati Post affected your writing?

Writing a weekly column was great discipline for just writing.  It didn’t matter if you felt inspired or not –if your column was due on Monday, you’d better have it written by Sunday. It was great practice for not choking under deadlines. As a teacher, I get to see the impact good books have on students. I see the light bulb of understanding go off, I hear the big football playing tough guy sniffling at the end of Of Mice and Men. It never gets old. And when I think of students getting my own books in a classroom, it makes me so happy. But I also know how diverse students are, how complicated their lives are. I always want to honor that –to really make it worth their time to read my books. 

Congratulations on your debut, ‘Walking with Miss Millie’. What inspired the story and why set it in the 1960’s? 

When my own daughter was in middle school, and feeling like she had no friends, she began walking the elderly neighbor’s dog. However, the dog refused to walk with just my daughter, so the neighbor lady went along too. It stayed that way and became a unique and lovely friendship. I knew I wanted to tell that story, but seeing what was going on in the world with matters of race, I wanted to write something that might help students understand each other. I wanted people to see how far we’ve come –and how far we need to go. That’s when I decided it would be a richer story if it took place in the 60’s and the two characters were different races.

Were there moments where the story felt challenging for you to write or you felt nervous about creating these characters? 

Maybe I should have been nervous, since I eventually found out that it is tricky to write outside your race, but I felt my character, Miss Millie, whispering in my ear the whole time. The story unfolded so naturally, the only challenge was wanting so hard to do her justice –I needed the world to love her as much as I did.

What are you hoping readers will take from the friendship between Alice and Miss Millie, a young white girl and an elderly black woman? 

For one thing, I hope they realize that friendships come in many shapes, sizes and appearances. For another, I want them to understand that you can’t know what someone is going through until you walk in their shoes (or at least with them for a while).

Once you finished the story, how did you celebrate your debut?

This novel was a part of my writing life for so many years, I don’t think I fully understood what “finished” was. But I celebrated every step of it –getting an agent (the amazing Steven Chudney), getting a book deal (the legendary Nancy Paulsen), seeing the first ARC (Advanced Reader Copy), the first hardcover --I celebrated it all!

What’s next now that ‘Walking with Miss Millie’ is out in the world? 

I love the loving feedback I am getting. I swear it never ceases to touch me to read someone’s review who cried and laughed and felt the same love I felt for my characters. And while I am enjoying and celebrating that, I am also working on my second Middle Grade novel that Nancy Paulsen bought for a 2019 release.

Will you stick to Middle Grade or do you have plans on writing Coming of Age or Adult Fiction in the future? 

I loved teaching high school students and I might write YA someday, but I am crazy about the possibilities of Middle Grade historical fiction right now-there’s so many stories to tell. But remember how much I loved Dr. Seuss? You might just see some picture books from me one day…

Thanks again for the interview, Tamara. Any tips for aspiring writers? 

The best advice I have is to write because you love it. If you only write to get a book deal, you will spend so much time frustrated and feeling like a failure. But if you write because you have a story to tell, you will always be a success as long as you tell the story you are meant to tell. Make writer friends, follow writers you admire on social media and read their stories. Follow agents you are interested in. Read, read, read and write, write write. And never, never, never give up.

More About the Author

Tamara Bundy is a high school English teacher with a Master’s degree in writing, and is a former columnist for the Cincinnati Post (her regular column on being a mom also appeared on EWTN global Catholic radio). Walking Miss Millie is her debut novel. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

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Behind the Pages #18: Jennifer Donnelly on the Waterfire Saga

Jennifer Donnelly, the awesome author of the Waterfire Saga, is next in the behind the pages series. Jennifer is currently busy with the release of Rogue Wave but has taken the time to answer a few questions.  Check out the interview below and enter the giveaway:

1. What or who inspired you to become a writer?

My huge love of stories. I've devoured books ever since I was a small child, and I've always known I wanted to one day write a few of my own. Stories are as essential to me as food and air. 

2. Your earlier releases were mainly historical fiction. What led you to write fantasy? 

A chance trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art a few years ago, where I saw a wonderful exhibition of Alexander McQueen's work, which inspired a longing in me to write about the sea. That combined with a call from Disney - that came the very same day! - asking me if I'd like to work on a story idea with them that involved mermaids. 

3. How challenging is it write this new series, as oppose to writing mystery or historical fiction?

All writing is challenging to me. Grappling with a magical universe -- and the new way of thinking about rules and logic that it demands -- was particularly daunting. As was the world-building for the Waterfire Saga. But it was also a great deal of fun. And I was also able to very much bring my historian self to this project in coming up with a new origin story and mythology for the mer folk. 

4. Did you feel any pressure to make Rogue Wave live up to the success of Deep Blue?

I always feel a lot of pressure to produce a good story. I really want to engage the reader and surprise her and make her feel deeply for the characters and give her a sumptuous visual feast. Hopefully, I've succeeded! 

5. Can you give readers a little tease into what Serafina and others will be facing in Rogue Wave?

A deadly shipwreck ghost. A romantic surprise. And one seriously bad dude! 

6. I noticed that there will be four books in the series. Do you have titles for books 3 & 4?

The third book is DARK TIDE, and we're still working on a title for the fourth one. 

7. Aside from writing, is there anything else you enjoy just as much?

I love to spend time with my family, to ride my horse, and to scavenge for old and interesting things at garage sales and flea markets. 

8. Thank you for taking the time, Jennifer. Please leave a message for aspiring writers.

Never, never, never give up! No one can ever guarantee that you'll get published, but one person can guarantee you won't -- you. By quitting. So don't. Keep on writing.

Author Bio:

Jennifer Donnelly is the author of seven novels - Rogue Wave, Deep Blue, Revolution, A Northern Light, The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose and The Wild Rose - and Humble Pie, a picture book for children. She grew up in New York State, in Lewis and Westchester counties, and attended the University of Rochester where she majored in English Literature and European History.

www.jenniferdonnelly.com | facebook.com/JenWritesBooks | @JenWritesBooks

Win a copy of Rogue Wave. Open to US entrees only.

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