BOOKS
On Viney's Mountain
By Joan Donaldson
copyright 2009, Holiday House
See
a video about Viney on my blog.
Kirkus Review, September 15th, 2009.
Foreigners are coming to 16-year-old Viney Walker's home in the Cumberland
Mountains of Tennessee. Arriving from England in 1880 to establish Rugby,
a Christian Social Community where young men hope to buy land and be treated
equally, these flatlanders are grading new roads, trampling her wildflowers
and luring her pretty sister Lizzie into town. But as much as Viney loves
her mountain way of life, especially her weaving, she is drawn to Charlie
Breckenridge, a handsome English man with gentian blue eyes. The jacket
copy likens this historical romance to Jane Austen, and it is funny, poignant
and always centered on whether or not Viney and Charlie will get together.
Viney and her mountain ridge are beautifully realized, the prose full
of well-researched details of flora and fauna, though a bit heavy handed
with similes. The first-person point of view is just right for getting
into the mind of this homespun girl with dirt under her fingernails and
grit in her spirit. Readers will come to love feisty Viney and cheer her
on.
At Home in the Garden & Home for Christmas
Melinda Rathjen, Editor
copyright 2009 (At Home in the Garden), Guideposts
copyright 2009 (Home for Christmas)
Anthologies that include my personal essays.
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The Secret of the Red Shoes
By Joan Donaldson
Illustrated by Doris Ettlinger
copyright 2006, GPKids
I grew up in Michigan, and my parents bought me red sandals that skipped through my summers, but The Secret of the Red Shoes danced in my imagination when my lifelong friend, Margo, described her grandmother's one-hundredth-birthday celebration. Margo's extended family had surprised Mrs. Coburn with her first pair of red shoes, and everyone at the party wore red shoes. Because Mrs. Coburn grew up in rural Wisconsin in the early 1900's she experienced a more simple childhood than her great-grandchildren, as shown through abby's dialogue. But the love of family resides in the heart of both.
I still stomp around my organic blueberry farm near Lake Michigan in red rubber clogs; and when my two sons lived at home, they helped on the farm in their work boots. Whatever color of shoe you slip onto your feet, I hope you can hear them sing!
To purchase this book, visit amazon.com
A Pebble and A Pen
By Joan Donaldson
copyright 2000,
Holiday House
After attending the Saga and learning the wonderful history of American penmanship, I wanted to tell the story of Platt Roger Spencer who contributed to our nation his script, poetry and zeal for temperance and abolition. I loved the fact that Spencerian Script design is based on the common shapes found in nature, the roll of the wave, the oval of a pebble or leaf. Mr. Spencer also believed in providing practical educations for both boys and girls. Michael Sull, Master Penman, showed me a newspaper clipping from 1885 with the first person account of a woman’s experiences in Mr. Spencer’s school during the summer of 1853. From her words, A Pebble and A Pen was born.
Readers often ask me: Did Phineas and Matty ever marry? Yes, they did. After a lovely courtship in Pittsburgh where they visited bookstores, attended the theatre, and took sleigh rides through the park, they married and moved to Manlius, Michigan. One of their daughters hopes to appear in a future novel.
To purchase this book, visit amazon.com
The Real Pretend
By Joan Donaldson
Illustrated by Tasha Tudor
copyright 1992, Checkerboard Press
In 1989, I attended the Spencerian Saga along with Tasha Tudor. We wanted to learn how to write like the people did in the nineteenth century .One of the catering staff was a cute, elderly woman we called Grandma Kathy.
Tasha looked at her and declared, “You must have been an adorable child.” Grandma Kathy fished out a photo of herself sitting on a pony and showed it to Tasha.
“There must be story behind this photo,” Tasha said. Grandma Kathy told us her tale and when she finished, Tasha turned to me and said, “You write that out and we will do a book together.”
The Real Pretend grew from that capricious moment, and I am indebted to Tasha for prodding me to resume writing. One of the best parts of writing that book was naming the characters after my friends, a tradition I continue when I write fiction.
To purchase this book, visit amazom.com
For a signed book, contact Joan:
