Teachers, parents, preachers, poodles and everyone else: come one, come all! A free teaching guide PDF is available for my debut novel Freakshow Summer. It’s great for classroom and home schools. Just go to this link and look over the PDF. If you want it, it is yours for the low, low price of, well…FREE! Download it and use it whenever you like.
Freakshow Summer recently won a silver medal for historical fiction at the 2022 Moonbeam Awards! I am so proud that the novel has been recognized. Maybe awards don’t equal sales, but it does validate a writer’s effort when recognized by educators, other authors, and those working in the field of children’s literature. I am very grateful to my publisher, Artemesia Publishing, and the man behind the company, Geoff Habiger.
For those interested in getting a copy of the book, it can be found on most major bookselling sites.
Bookshop
Apple iBook
Kobo ebook
Barnes & Noble
Amazon
Kindle
Freakshow Summer is also listed on Ingram for librarians.
You can also visit The Moonbeam awards twitter page HERE.
I’m sure this will be available as an ebook once it is officially published. Freakshow Summer is available at most bookselling websites.
Teachers: I officially have the teacher’s guide available and will post an excerpt soon!
I am really proud of the great work Ian Bristow has done for my novel. Geoff Habiger of Artemesia Publishing made an excellent choice for the illustrator. Stay tuned for more looks at the new novel Freakshow Summer. A PDF teacher’s guide is forth coming. A link will be provided when it is complete.
Thanks to the quick work by Ian Bristow, I have the first four chapter illustrations. For details about the novel, see the previous post: Debut Novel Freakshow Summer.
Freakshow Summer will be released July 2022. A free teacher guide will be available in PDF, as well as an audio version of the novel. Stay tune for more details.
After many years of revisions and editing, my debut novel Freakshow Summer will finally be available July 2022. Published by Artemesia Publishing out of Tijeras, New Mexico, this middle school/young adult novel focuses on such themes as acceptance, family, and friendship. Artemesia Publishing picked up Freakshow Summer in May of 2021, but I had been working on it off and on for nearly eight years. Ian Bristow will be doing the cover art as well as chapter illustrations within the novel. I am really excited to see his work, but you can check out his other projects here and here. Once I am able, I will have some artwork published on the webpage. To give readers an idea of the plot, below is one of several blurbs that will be used to promote the novel, which is set in 1938.
“In a world of freaks, thirteen-year-old Manny Dobra longs to find his place. Orphaned at a young age, he is raised by the sideshow performers of Oliver Neil’s Marvelous Carnival. But even his deceased fortune-telling mother couldn’t have predicted the bully who can’t stand Manny, Oliver falling in love with the bully’s mother, or the return of the Oldies—a group that intends on destroying carnivals. But with help from his friends Nickel, Margot and Penny, Manny begins to traverse the tricky road of life, finding his footing in a world of human curiosities, both the beautiful and the ugly.”
I will also be working on a teacher’s guide as well as an audio version of the novel, both of which will be available on this website. The teacher’s guide will be a free downloadable PDF and will have chapter summaries, vocabulary, review questions, project assignments, and cross-curricular materials if teachers wish to incorporate the novel into their lessons. I am hoping to be the narrator for the audio version. Once I have the first chapter read, I will provide the audio and print sample here on the webpage as well.
As we get closer to the date of release, I will be providing more information and links.
My first post on this topic listed a few of the many Indigenous novel/books available to the public. The ones I choose focused specifically on North American indigenous peoples, but a wide range of novels also deal with South American tribal nations, Caribbean Natives, and Australian aborigine peoples. I encourage readers of literature to seek out those novels if interested in native peoples from around the globe.
Today, I would like to focus on African American Young Adult novels. Fortunately, this area of literature has not only grown over the last two decades but has thrived. Many have become classics of the genre, not just within African-American literature, but within literature as a whole. So many have made an impact on young lives that it will be difficult to choose just a few. Nevertheless, I will attempt to pull from a variety of times, both in setting and in publication.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
When I first began teaching language arts to middle schoolers, one of the first stories we read was call “A Song of Trees” by Mildred D. Taylor. Told from the point of view of Cassie Logan and set in the South during the 1930s, it detailed the illegal harvesting of lumber on the Logan family property. The Logans were the only black family to own land, so the whites sought to take advantage. As a result of the at excellent story, I soon found Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. This is the first novel about the Logan family reveals the hardships of not only the Logans, but other black sharecroppers who didn’t have the advantage of land ownership. Racism and discrimination plays a major role, but so does education. Although the novel was the first to be written Ms. Taylor went on to do three prequels as well as a sequel. I highly recommend it to all young readers.
Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper
Another award-winning novel, but this one is set in the era of slavery. It tells the story of Amari, a fifteen-year-old African girl, living in the village of Ziavi, which is attacked by slave traders. She is taken captive and sold. Amari’s journey from her small village to a plantation in the Carolinas is terrible and heartbreaking, yet realistic. The story pulls no punches about the cruelty of slavery. As with any great book, it is filled with characters you love and root for and heinous characters you hope get theirs in the end. This a powerful novel worth the time to read.
Interesting side note: Ms. Draper is the granddaughter of a former slave, which makes this novel all the more impactful.
The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers
Reminiscent of Alex Haley’s masterpiece Roots, The Glory Field follows the Lewis family from 1700s slavery to the 1990s. It follow six members of the family starting with Muhammad Bilal, who was kidnapped and enslaved and ending with Malcolm Lewis in 1994. Readers traverse through the decades and meet a new family member in many of the pivotal eras for the African Americans (e.g 1860s, 1930s, 1960s, etc.). The common thread is the land worked and ultimately inherited by the Lewis family. We are witness to the discrimination, prejudice, and racism planted from the early days of slavery. However, we also read about the power of family, hope, and perseverance. Although the stories are incredibly sad, the endurance of the human spirit shines through.
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Jayson Reynolds is an amazing writer, plain and simple. I read this one on my Kindle and was told by one of my students to scroll down for the novel as opposed to going page by page. It made the reading experience so much more interesting. Long Way Down is a narrative prose poem about Will Holloman riding an elevator down from the 8th floor as he decides whether or not he will exact vengeance on the young man who killed his brother Shawn. The kicker is that during the 60+ second ride down, he is met at each floor by someone who has been killed by the same type of violence. Beautiful, thoughtful, heart-rending, this novel will leave a lasting impact on all those who read it.
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Another novel by Jason Reynolds who co-wrote it with Brendan Kiely, and another phenomenal read. This one has two points of view, one from a young black man and the other from a young white man. This one is quite fortuitous to our modern environment in its plot and characters. As with many of these books dealing with race in America, it is powerful and tragic. The plot focuses on two characters, Rashad and Quinn. Rashad has been unfairly targeted and horribly beaten by a cop named Paul. Quinn, who witnessed the event, has a significant connection to Paul. To complicate matters, the beating is also caught on video and brought to the public. Dividing lines are drawn and the conflict grows to become national. Written in 2014-15, the themes resonate very loudly today.
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
When I heard, read about, and watched the shooting of Tamir Rice, it galvanized me to teach more African American literature while I was teaching language arts. Now, as an American History teacher, I focus on the impact slavery had on the nation. Although this book was written well after I left language arts, I was fortunate enough to have a teacher recommend it to me.
The main character is twelve-year-old Jerome was shot and killed by police who mistook his toy gun for a real one. As a ghost, Jerome witnesses the terrible toll his death has on his family and community. He is later joined by Emmett Till, who helps Jerome on his path. Together, they explore how Jerome’s death can be attributed the deep-seated racism that was presence during Emmett’s time and further back. Again, timely and eye-opening, this a book that will go on to be a modern classic.
So many incredible novels could have been added to this list. I wish I could shine a spotlight on each one. Below, I’ve added a few more for your edification.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. A modern classic that has a received a large and deserved audience. Another book ahead of its time and reflects the current environment.
The Binti Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor. Outside the typical real world literature, this is a sci-fi novel, which is a wonderful and exciting read.
Dread Nation series by Justina Ireland. I discovered this first through Audible, but a second in the series has been written. Part alternate history and part horror-fantasy-zombie novel, this takes place in the 1860s with a young African-American female protagonist.
Summer has always been time to write on the novel, but most summers are spent teaching summer school or being otherwise preoccupied with responsibilities to my young family. After three summers of trudging along on my young adult novel, I have finally FINISHED it. Of course, to say it is finished is rather a relative term seeing how I have weeks and probably months of revisions to go through before I begin the arduous process of finding representation.
There is, however, a great sense of accomplishment to say and write that I have finished writing a novel. I have created characters, caused them joy and hardship, changed them, and made a world for them to live in. The process has also changed me as a writer and an individual. Though it took me a lot of time to do this task, I have in fact written a novel. A literal frickin’ novel!
As a kid, I was a struggling reader and writer. In fact, when I was in third grade and moved to a new state and new school (1979), I was placed in a special education reading class because I was behind where the other students were. Even though I think I was misdiagnosed, I nonetheless struggled with classwork and, to be honest, cheated a lot. My failings as a student (though I only earned one F and two D’s throughout my entire public education) stemmed from other outside influences. Partially, I was lazy and partially I longed for escape. I didn’t have that great of a home life and sought escapist activities as often as I could. Going to school and being with friends was one of those escapist activities, but schoolwork was not.
My first year (1989) of college was similar, but as I grew in years and experience I found that I actually enjoyed learning. I also found that I had a marginal talent as a writer. This grew as I began writing short stories. They weren’t that great, but it was a start.
It wasn’t until about ten years ago that I really started pursuing my writing and looking for markets for publication. I had a few success and even made a few bucks in the process. I had quite a few rejections along the way, as well.
When my third child was born, life grew a little too hectic to continue with my writing as devoutly as I had before. I had to make more money to support my family by teaching night classes, which in turn took a good deal of my time and energy. However, over the last couple years, my kids have grown and are able to entertain themselves to a large extent and this gave me time to sit back in the writer’s chair and do something I forgot I loved to do.
I don’t know if this book is any good let alone publishable. Nevertheless, I finished it. My kids know I’ve finished it, and it may be something they can look back on and say, “My dad wrote this. It’s kind of weird, but he wrote a full novel.”
My long-suffering wife, who has supported me throughout the process, is just as excited and proud of my accomplishment. She has often pushed me to go find a quiet corner and write. Sometimes her encouragement has bordered harassment, but it made me see that my accomplishments are just as important to her as they are to me.
Ultimately, I fulfilled a goal. I wrote a book. I made my family proud. That’s not a bad start to a potential writing career.
Anthony Bartley 