BOOKS
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!
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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.
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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.
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