JUNE BIRTHDAYS AND STORIES FROM THE HEART

It's Monday again. Where did the week go? At least half of the things I planned to do last week are still waiting. Shh! Don't tell anyone. I'll do them, eventually. In the meantime, I'm celebrating the month of June with birthdays. My real sister has one this month and several of my story book children have birthdays too. Before we wish them Happy Birthday, I just have to share my latest review with you. No, no, don't go away. I promise not to take long.

This is my mg/tween historical fiction novel loosely based on my mother's life. It took a lot of research, but I learned so much about the time period the story takes place and about the Orphan Trains and the children that road them.

Here's the latest review.

Reviewed by Lauren Davis for Readers' Favorite

Beverly Stowe McClure’s story, A Family for Leona, is a poignant tale of adoption that is sure to melt your heart. Eleven-year-old Leona Chapter and her five siblings experience hardship and loss before ending up in the Brooklyn School and Home for Destitute Children. One by one, the Chapter children are sent off in different directions and we wonder if and when they will reunite. The setting is the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when trains carried orphans from New York to Texas. Leona is forced to board that train, all the while scheming for a way back to her family in New York. When Leona is selected from the group of homeless children and she finds herself riding over flat land in a Model T, the possibility of a return seems bleaker by the second, but Leona is tenacious and hopeful about returning.

A Family for Leona is a story of hope and restoration geared to children and young teens. The adventures and trials Leona and her best friend, Noah, endure pull us into their plight and we cheer and ache with them. Their experiences from a tenement dwelling in Brooklyn to farm life in Texas are quirky, enchanting and ultimately satisfying. Beverly Stowe McClure’s emotional fictional narrative is beautifully written through the eyes of a stubborn adolescent girl with a penchant for increasing her vocabulary. With themes like new beginnings, friendship, love and family, I recommend A Family for Leona and rate this book 5 stars.

 Amazon

Now for my other children's birthdays in June. 

Caves, Cannons, and Crinolines

This is another historical fiction novel set during the American Civil War in Vicksburg. When we visited the city and I heard about the citizens living in caves, I knew I had to write their story. The research was really interesting. I can not imagine living in a cave.

June 15, 2010

Happy Birthday, Lizzie!

###

Frankie's Perfect Home

A picture book for young readers about an armadillo searching for the perfect home. The idea for this story came to me when my son found a nest of baby armadillos in our pasture. Fascinating critters.

June 13, 2011

Happy Birthday, Frankie and brothers.

###

Life on Hold

A YA novel about a girl that learns a secret her parents have kept from her for 16 years.

June 20, 2013

Happy Birthday, Myra.

###

Princess Breeze

Tween/teen novel about a girl who sails to an island in the Pacific Ocean to visit the prince she met at school and his family.

June 11, 2017

Happy Birthday, Breeze.

My family is growing.

Happy Reading!