A regular reader of my Storied Charlotte blog recently asked me how I find out about the new books that I feature on my blog.  Well, in the case of Megan Miranda’s new thriller, The Only Survivors, I learned about the publication of the book from an announcement that I received from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library about their Around the World in 21 Branches Festival Tour:  https://foundation.cmlibrary.org/events/around-the-world/ 

This year-long festival kicked off with an event on May 6, 2023, at the North County Regional Library, and Megan served as the featured author.  During the event, she talked about The Only Survivors, which Simon & Schuster published on April 11, 2023.  It seems fitting to me that Megan spoke at this event held at the North County Regional Library since she lives near this branch of the public library.  For more information about Megan and her novels, please click on the following link:  https://meganmiranda.com

After seeing the announcement, I decided to find out more information about The Only Survivors.  I immediately became intrigued when I discovered that much of the novel takes place in and around a beach house located on the Outer Banks.  I have visited the Outer Banks many times over the years, so the setting appealed to me.  However, in Megan’s new novel, the Outer Banks is not a place to kick back and relax. It’s a place where the water surges ominously and danger lurks around every corner.

The novel focuses on a group of former high school classmates who survived a tragic event during their senior year.  These students were participating on a school trip when their two vans crashed into a ravine, killing all but nine of the students.  The survivors decide to have an annual reunion on the anniversary of the tragedy, and they always meet at the same beach house. 

On the tenth anniversary, the reunion takes a frightening turn.  The seven remaining survivors are isolated in the beach house because of terrible storm, which results in the roads being closed.  As the survivors huddle together in the beach house, it gradually becomes clear that there are secrets related to the original tragedy that cause the survivors to mistrust one another.  Things are made worse when one of the characters finds a washed-up cell phone on the beach.  Once the phone is dried out, it starts working.  The information retrieved from phone increases the tensions in the beach house.

As the novel progresses, the focus alternates between the events surrounding the original tragedy and the escalating tensions in the beach house.  These two plot lines converge in an unexpected way. The Only Survivors is a fast-paced thriller, full of intriguing plot twists. 

The setting plays an integral role in The Only Survivors.  This is a story about the dark side of the Outer Banks, a side most tourists never see.  Still, if you have ever spent time on the Outer Banks during a bad storm, Megan’s portrayal will resonate with you. I remember once arriving at our hotel in Nags Head at 2:00 in the morning in the middle of a drenching rain with high winds.  It seemed so ominous that I had an impulse to get back in the car and drive back to Charlotte.  The next day the sun came out and we had a great vacation, but I can still recall the sense of dread that I felt during that truly dark and stormy night.

For readers who enjoy thrillers, The Only Survivors is a great book to read while vacationing on the Outer Banks or anywhere else for that matter.  Megan is one of Storied Charlotte’s bestselling authors, and the success of The Only Survivors helps explain why she is such a popular author. 

Last Friday I attended a retirement luncheon for my friend and colleague Andrew James Hartley.  Andrew has served as the Robinson Professor of Shakespeare Studies at UNC Charlotte since 2005, but he is now retiring from his university position.  Although he still loves Shakespeare’s plays, Andrew’s current plan is to focus on his own creative-writing endeavors. 

A true renaissance man, Andrew achieved success as a bestselling novelist at the same time that he pursued his academic career as a Shakespearean scholar.  While he uses his full name when writing scholarly books, he usually writes as A.J. Hartley when he is publishing novels.  Given the fact that Andrew is about to become a full-time novelist, now is a fitting time to take a look back at the creative side of Andrew’s writing career.

Andrew published his first novel, The Mask of Atreus, in 2006, one year after he arrived in Charlotte.  The Mask of Atreus is an archaeological thriller that revolves around an ancient and highly sought-after artifact that goes missing from an Atlanta museum.  This novel received excellent reviews, and it launched Andrew’s career as a thriller writer.  He soon published several other thrillers, including On the Fifth Day (2007) and What Time Devours (2009).  At this early stage in his career, Andrew’s publisher billed him as a thriller writer, but Andrew soon broke this mold.

In 2009, Andrew published Act of Will, a young adult fantasy novel.  This novel proved to be the first of many YA and middle-grades fantasy novels, including Will Power (2010), Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact (2011), Darwen Arkwright and the Insidious Bleck (2012), Darwen Arkwright and the School of Shadows (2013), Steeplejack (2016), Firebrand (2017), Guardian (2018), Cold Bath Street (2018) and Impervious (2020).

Andrew has also written historical fiction for adults, including two novels based on Shakespeare plays.  He and David Hewson co-wrote Macbeth, a Novel (2010) and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, a Novel (2014).  Andrew also collaborated with Tom DeLonge on two historical thrillers:  Sekret Machines: Chasing Shadows (2016) and Sekret Machines: A Fire Within (2020). 

For more information about Andrew and his many novels, please click on the following link:  https://ajhartley.net

Given Andrew’s propensity to jump genres and break molds, I am not sure what sort of books he will write in the future.  I do know, however, that he has a new mythological fantasy in the works titled Hideki Smith, Demon Queller.  I can’t wait to read it. 

I will miss running into Andrew on the UNC Charlotte campus, but I am glad that he intends to continue living in Charlotte. Andrew lived in many other places before he moved to Charlotte.  He grew up in England, taught English in Japan, earned his graduate degrees from Boston University, and launched his academic career at the University of West Georgia.   However, he started his career as a published novelist after he moved to Charlotte, and I think it is appropriate that he will pursue his career as a full-time novelist while living in Storied Charlotte. 

As a long-time English professor at UNC Charlotte, I always feel a sense of pride and satisfaction when my former students go on to achieve success in their chosen careers.  Susan Diamond Riley is an example of such a student.  About ten years ago, Susan started our graduate program in children’s literature, and she took several courses from me.  Toward the end of her program, she wrote a creative thesis under my direction.  For her thesis, she wrote a mystery novel for middle-grade readers, and a few years later a revised version of her thesis came out from Young Palmetto Books/The University of South Carolina Press under the title of The Sea Island’s Secret:  A Delta & Jax Mystery (2019). Since then, she has published two more books in this series—The Sea Turtle’s Curse (Koehler Books, 2020) and The Sea Witch’s Revenge (Koehler Books, 2022).  All of these books are set in the Carolina Lowcountry around Hilton Head Island. For more information about Susan and her books, please click on the following link:  https://www.susandiamondriley.com/

I recently learned that The Sea Witch’s Revenge has won several awards.  Children’s Book International declared the book their top winner in the categories of “Best Historical Fiction” and “Best Mystery” for 2023.  Also, the BookFest Awards 2023 named the book a winner in the categories “Juvenile–Historical Fiction” and “Juvenile–People & Places.” When I heard this exciting news, I contacted Susan and asked her for an update on her writing career.  She responded right away and informed me that she has just finished the fourth book in her series.  Here is what she sent to me:

Titled The Sea Devil’s Demise, the latest installment in my award-winning middle-grade historical mystery series will find sibling sleuths Delta and Jax encountering a strange girl at a Savannah pirate festival. When the girl follows them back to Hilton Head Island, they suspect that time is playing tricks on them again. Who is this mysterious person, who is she fated to become, and how can they return her to her own era in history before she gets stuck in the 21st century forever? As in my previous Delta & Jax mysteries, this tale will include real history, a bit of magic, and a message about the Sea Island environment. This time the kids will learn about the dangers plastics pose to sea life, and what they (and readers) can do to help save our oceans.

While marketing my already-published books is an ongoing task, I also write a twice-monthly blog about Lowcountry history, nature, and culture called “Greetings from the Lowcountry!” I find this regular communication keeps me connected to my readers while they’re awaiting my next novel. As if that doesn’t keep me busy enough, I do continue editing professionally for others. In fact, some of my returning clients are contacts I formed while completing my master’s degree and working in the Writing Resources Center at UNC Charlotte. I regularly edit articles and books for UNCC instructors, and also am occasionally contacted by former clients from the WRC. Now graduates themselves, these folks have entered the workforce and seek my help to polish work-related speeches and presentations, as well as applications for grants and graduate programs.

One of my favorite aspects of being an author/editor is the opportunity to speak to schools and organizations about my books and the writing process. For example, a couple of months ago I was asked to lead an editing workshop for high school students who were competing for a prestigious writing prize. Also, last fall I was delighted to be invited to speak to a group of English master’s degree candidates at UNC Charlotte regarding the various career options available to them after graduation–many of which I have personally sampled! Several attendees of that event contacted me with additional questions afterwards, and I love the idea that I am now able to mentor these aspiring writers just as my UNC Charlotte professors (like you!) did for me during my time in Charlotte. Paying it forward is an honor!

I congratulate Susan on her recent awards and her continued success as a children’s author.  Although Susan no longer lives in Charlotte, she is a graduate of our M.A. program, and as such, she is still very much a member of the community of readers and writers that make up Storied Charlotte.   

When last we visited Charlotte mystery writer Mark de Castrique, he had just published Secret Lives: An Ethel Fiona Crestwater Mystery.  Poison Pen Press brought out Secret Lives in October 2022, and that same month I devoted a Storied Charlotte blog post to the book’s release.  Much has happened in Mark’s world since then. 

Mark recently learned that Secret Lives is one of five nominees for the Sue Grafton Memorial Award.  This award is presented by the Mystery Writers of America, and it honors “the best novel in a series featuring a female protagonist.”  Mark informed me that the winner will be announced at an awards banquet this Thursday in New York City.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that Secret Lives is declared the winner.  For more information about the Sue Grafton Memorial Award, please click on the following link:  https://edgarawards.com/category-list-sue-grafton-award/

Mark’s other big news is the release of his new mystery novel titled The Secret of FBI File 100-3-116.  This novel is the latest volume in his Sam Blackman Series.  Set in Asheville, this series features Sam Blackman and Nakayla Robertson, two private investigators who have a knack for uncovering secrets from the past.  I contacted Mark and asked him for more information about this new mystery.  Here is what he sent to me:

Writing a series means I’ve spent a lot of time with my characters over the span of years, even decades.  In a way, they’ve become real to me and I wonder what they’re doing even when I’m not writing about them.  At no point was this more evident to me than during the summer of 2020.  COVID-19 was spreading like wildfire.  Racial reckoning and Confederate monuments fueled nationwide protests.  And Asheville, North Carolina, home of my detectives Sam Blackman and Nakayla Robertson, was not immune.  I wondered how Sam and Nakayla were coping with the tumultuous times.

A year or two before, I had come across a declassified FBI file that J. Edgar Hoover had kept on Martin Luther King, Jr.  Part of the file included investigations into threats made against the civil rights leader the two times he had been in the Asheville area – once for a retreat in January 1964 and then for a speech in August 1965.  Those making the threats were never known.  I became interested in how the turbulent 1960s connected to our present day, and I thought it would be interesting to create fictional characters who could have been behind the death threats.  But the story isn’t about the past.  It’s about how hiding and denying the past leads to murders in the present.  And how Nakayla must face a truth that goes beyond one FBI file to a shocking revelation that upends her own history – a history that she and I discovered together.

Readers who want to know more about Mark and his mystery novels, please click on the following link:  http://www.markdecastrique.com/

Although I am a big fan of Mark’s new Ethel Fiona Crestwater Mystery Series, I am pleased that he has provided his readers with a new addition to his popular Sam Blackman Series.  I congratulate Mark on bringing out two mystery novels in the span of a year.  Mark is a prolific and talented mystery writer, and we all fortunate that his home is here in Storied Charlotte.  

Earth Day has been celebrated on the 22^nd day of April since 1970.  National Poetry Month has been celebrated during the month of April since 1996.  I think it is fitting that the timing of these two celebrations coincide, for poetry lends itself to celebrating the wonders of planet Earth.  With this idea in mind, I contacted Martin (Marty) Settle, a Charlotte poet who often writes about the natural world, and I asked him how he addresses environmental themes in his poetry.  Here is what he sent to me:

Recently, I wrote a poem called “When in the Company,” which expressed my feeling of belonging and place in the company of other creatures. When I am city-weary and full of the intentions of humans, I find that visiting our mountains near Charlotte an antidote for my mental stagnation. In the midst of animals going about purposes that are not mine, I find that I am one among others rather than one separate from others. In a rich abundance of a variety of consciousnesses, one becomes connected to the great wave called life. This loss of ego is not a diminishing experience but a transcendent one.

As I see it, when we save the ecology of our planet, we are really saving ourselves. My poetry does not take a political stance when it tries to reveal the wonder in the more-than-human world. Like Carson’s title Silent Spring, I seek by implication for readers to think about the loss of each creature and what it would mean to their lives. I believe that encounters with countless creatures fights off existential crises better than anything I know. That is what my poetry is about.

When in the Company

what is missing

is to be with other

consciousnesses

the intentions

of human beings

are not enough

in the city

out here the osprey

leaves the tree

and dives

she is about purposes

that have nothing

to do with me

turtles float on a log

with meditations

no guru knows

a dragonfly has no “why”

balancing on the line

of my fishing pole

yes, I want to catch

another consciousness

but I have to think trout

to do it –

match the hatch

tie a caddis to tippet

delicately present a lie

like a prayer

to an invisible presence

a water snake

a competitor

passes by my lure

his kind have chased me off

even stolen my catch

I give him space

to avoid confrontation

down the middle

of the stream

a kingfisher clicks her way

flying low to make a catch

I make a song

standing in my waders

to match the creek

and I cast and cast

until I disappear

For anyone who is interested in reading more of Marty’s nature-themed poems, I highly recommend his recently published collection titled The Metaphorest.  More information about this collection is available here:  https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-metaphorest-by-martin-settle/

As we celebrate Earth Day here in Storied Charlotte, I think we should all join with Marty in remembering that our wondrous planet is not just our home—it’s a home that we share with all of the other forms of life that make our lives possible.  

My friend and colleague Dr. Janaka Bowman Lewis is the author of Light and Legacies:  Stories of Black Girlhood and Liberation, which the University of South Carolina Press just released as part of its Cultures of Resistance Series.  Light and Legacies is grounded in Janaka’s deep knowledge of literary texts by Black women writers, but this book does not have the feel of a dry, academic treatise.   Janaka combines her critical analyses of texts with her personal reflections about growing up Black in the American South and about being a parent of two Black children.  For example, when discussing a novel that she initially read as a teenager, she often comments on how she responded to this novel when she first encountered it.  The result is a highly readable and thought-provoking examination of stories about Black girlhood.  For more information about this book, please click on the following link:  https://uscpress.com/Light-and-Legacies

Janaka and I share an interest in how children often incorporate narrative elements in their play.  Several years ago, we had a long conversation about the depiction of children’s play in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave.  Since that conversation, Janaka has developed an overarching approach to analyzing the significance of play in narratives about Black childhood.  She writes, “Narratives of the culture of play extend from the earliest known African American narratives through civil rights-era narratives and into the modern period. … Play serves as confirmation, modeling, and, eventually, transition into a world in which the narrator has the ability to comprehend and, ultimately, escape the ways in which he or she is objectified.”

In Light and Legacies, Janaka examines the play of Black girls as depicted in such texts as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Assata Shakur’s Assata: An Autobiography, and Alice Childress’s Rainbow Jordan. Janaka’s discussion of these texts is detailed and nuanced.  She avoids overgeneralizing, but she points out important patterns in how children’s play figures in these narratives. 

Janaka titles her epilogue “Reading Play as Resistance,” and this title nicely encapsulates the core argument that runs throughout Light and Legacies.  In her analysis of the various stories of Black girlhood that she covers in her book, Janaka shows play can function as a form of resistance and can provide Black girls with visions of “different ways of being.” Janaka’s book is all about the transformative power of play.

I congratulate Janaka on the publication of Light and Legacies:  Stories of Black Girlhood and Liberation.  I enjoyed reading it, and I think it would appeal to anyone in Storied Charlotte who is interested in Black women writers, play studies, and Black girlhood.

I recently received an email from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation informing me that Library Giving Day is Tuesday, April 4, 2023.  I’m a big supporter of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, so I decided to find out more about Library Giving Day.  After a few email exchanges with various people associated with our public library, I ended up getting in touch with Jenni Gaisbauer, the Executive Director of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation.  She provided me the following statement about Library Giving Day:

Next Tuesday, April 4, is National Library Giving Day, a day where library advocates join together to raise crucial funds that add more to the story. More programs, more access, more story times, more tutoring sessions, more digital literacy, and of course, more books. I hope you will join us in celebrating our Library by making a gift of any level. Let’s continue the legacy of free access to information and learning opportunities for everyone in Mecklenburg County and beyond.

For more information about Library Giving Day, please click on the following link:  https://foundation.cmlibrary.org/library-giving-day/

One of the reasons why I am supporting Library Giving Day is because our public library system provides the children in our community with memorable and meaningful experiences.  When children visit their local library, they do more than check out books or participate in various programs.  They also gain a sense of agency.  They can select what books they want to take home. They have opportunities to ask questions, make requests, and express opinions.  They might just be eight years old, but the librarian treats them as a unique patron, not just another kid in a large class.  They also gain a sense of belonging to a community.  They interact with other children in a safe space where everyone is welcome.  Such experiences help make a trip to the library a special event for many children. 

As an English professor with an expertise in children’s literature, I am aware that special library experiences figure prominently in the pages of some wonderful children’s books. 

In Roald Dahl’s Matilda, Matilda is a frequent visitor to her local library where she regularly interacts with Mrs. Phelps, the librarian in charge of the place.  Mrs. Phelps not only helps Matilda find the books that appeal to Matilda, but she fosters Matilda’s sense of self-worth by respecting Matilda’s intelligence and reading tastes.  Matilda’s positive experiences at the library help her cope with the negative environment that she experiences at home.

In Christopher Paul Curtis’s Bud, Not Buddy, Bud also sees his local library as a special place.  As he says, “The air in the library isn’t like the air anywhere else.”  When Bud visits the library in the beginning of the book, the librarian takes him seriously and provides him with clear answers to his questions.   She explains to Bud what an atlas is and helps him figure out how long it would take for him to walk from Flint, Michigan, to Chicago.  By answering his questions, the librarian helps Bud feel valued.  He doesn’t like the news that he learns at the library, but he doesn’t feel dismissed or ignored simply because he is a young African American boy.

In Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family, the five Jewish immigrant sisters who are featured in this novel all visit their local library in the beginning of the story.  These girls live in a Jewish neighborhood on the Lower East Side of New York City during the early years of the 20^th century, but when they go to the library they interact with people from other ethnic and religious backgrounds, including the librarian. The sisters’ positive experiences at the library help them feel connected to people outside of their immediate neighborhood.

In Pat Mora’s Tomás and the Library Lady, Tomás, the son migrant farm workers from Texas, spends his summer in a small Iowa town where he often visits the local library.  When he first enters the library, the library lady welcomes him and invites to sit at his own table.  She then asks him what he would like to read about.  He says that he is interested in “tigers” and “dinosaurs.” She brings him a pile of books about tigers and dinosaurs, and this starts their summer-long relationship.  She introduces him to many books, which he often reads aloud to her. At the end of the summer, Tomás returns to Texas, but he continues to feel a sense of connection with the library lady with whom he shared so many stories during his summer in Iowa.

All of the children in the aforementioned novels look forward to their visits to their local libraries just as so many children in our community look forward to their visits to the local branches of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.  By supporting Library Giving Day, we can help provide the children in Storied Charlotte with the sort of affirming and community-building experiences that often happen when children go to the library where the air isn’t like “anywhere else.”    

For Chris Arvidson, now is a special time of the year.  As a lifelong baseball fan, Chris is looking forward to March 30, which is Opening Day for Major League Baseball’s 2023 season.  As a Charlotte poet, Chris is also looking forward to April, which is National Poetry Month.  Chris’s love of baseball and her interest in writing poetry are reflected in her two most recent books.  In 2017, she published a co-edited volume titled The Love of Baseball:  Essays by Lifelong Fans.  In 2022, she published a poetry collection titled The House Inside My Head.   For readers who want to know more about Chris and her publications, please click on the following link:  https://www.chrisarvidson.com/index.htm

I contacted Chris and asked her how she is preparing for this special week.  Here is what she sent to me:

I have been searching for some Faygo Red Pop, and I’m dismayed to find that neither Harris Teeter nor Publix seems to carry it any longer. Red Pop, a Detroit original, is my favored choice of beverage for opening day. I shall persevere and figure out where to find it before March 30, when my Detroit Tigers play their first game of the season. On March 31, I’ll be at the Charlotte Knights ballpark, in glorious anticipation of the summer to come. I cannot deny that I tear-up for the national anthem that first Spring outing…every time. 

Just last week, I stumbled upon The National Baseball Poetry Festival on Facebook. The organizers are throwing a weekend-long baseball poetry event based at a Boston Red Sox AAA affiliate in Worcester, MA. Events include a poetry contest, ballpark tours, an open mic… not bad for a first-year event. You can see more about the festival at: baseballpoetryfest.org. 

It really made me think–Worcester? Really? Charlotte could TOTALLY do something like this. Maybe even expand it to a whole writing-about-baseball thing, that wouldn’t just be poetry. Although this most poetic of sports certainly does lend itself in that direction. So far, my husband, Henry, thinks it’s a great idea, and Jay Ward, Charlotte’s first poet laureate, sees merit, too. So, stay tuned. I might just see what I can cook up.

I also asked Chris if she would be willing to share examples of her own baseball poems, and she agreed to do so.  The first poem that she provided is about Frances Crockett, the woman who served as the General Manager of the Charlotte O’s.  The Charlotte O’s was the AA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles from 1976 to 1987.  She was the first woman General Manager in professional baseball.  Here is Chris’s poem:

Dear Frances Crockett

By Chris Arvidson

Just about every day

I walk around the ballpark

Where flags with the pictures of past

Ballplayers, owners, and managers wave to me

The legends of Charlotte baseball.

Yours is my favorite – the only woman

You look so serious and businesslike

So smart and professional

Your blond hair stylish and smooth

It’s not how I remember you.

I see you decades ago out at the old ballpark

The wooden one that sometimes burned

That sat in the middle of a middle-class neighborhood

Through the open door of the rickety trailer near the front gate

That served as your general manager’s office.

You’re sitting at a beat-up old desk

A huge fluffy white dog at your feet

And do I recall a cigarette in one waving hand?

The other holding a phone to your ear

As you conducted the team’s business.

(This poem appeared in “Nine: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture” Vol. 30 Nos. 1-2, Fall/Spring 2021-22.)

The second poem that Chris shared with me is about Ryan Ripken, a minor-league baseball player.  He is the son of baseball legend Cal Ripken, Jr., who played for the Charlotte O’s in 1980.   Here is Chris’s poem:

Hello Ryan Ripken (For Robyn)

By Chris Arvidson

Ryan Ripken came up to bat last night

The designated hitter for the Norfolk Tides

Baltimore’s AAA farm team.

Fluttering in the tepid breeze outside the park

A banner sporting his father’s young face flew

A nostalgic image from Cal the legend’s tenure as a Charlotte Oriole.

Ryan’s twenty-eight now

It looks like Grandpa, Uncle Billy, and Ironman Dad

Will post the big-time family’s big-league careers without him.

He stands tall at bat in the farm team uniform

And takes up more physical space at the plate

Than the other famous Ripkens.

I wonder if he saw that flag on his way into the ballpark tonight

Snapping in the wind over the players’ entrance.

I thank Chris for sharing her baseball poems and for her many contributions to our community.  When it comes to doing her part to make Storied Charlotte a more interesting place to live, Chris is always ready to play ball.

For the second year in a row, many of the independent bookstores located in the Charlotte area are working together during the month of April on a project they call the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl.  Their collaborative book crawl will culminate on April 29, 2023, which is Indie Bookstore Day.  These participating bookstores are encouraging area readers to visit each other’s businesses and get to know what makes each bookstore unique.  For more information about the book crawl, please click on the following link:  https://greatercharlottebookcrawl.com/

Beginning April 1, bookstore lovers can pick up Greater Charlotte Book Crawl (GCBC)
passports at any of the fifteen participating bookstores. Each visit to one of the bookstores during the month of April earns the crawler a new stamp.  The ultimate goal is for participants to visit all fifteen stores. Each “finisher” will earn a special edition GCBC decal designed by Davidson artist Lily Clark. The finishers simply need to show a completed passport at any participating bookstore. Finishers can also submit a photo of their completed passport to be entered in a drawing for the Grand Prize: a collection of gift cards from each of the bookstores.

Last year I visited several of the participating bookstores during the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl, but I did not earn the distinction of being a finisher. However, my friend and university colleague Greg Weeks succeeded in visiting all of the last year’s participating bookstores, and he still has the completed passport to prove it.  I contacted Greg and asked him about his experiences with last year’s book crawl.  Here is what he sent to me:

I am a lifelong lover of bookstores (and especially independent used bookstores), and so last year when I happened to see the news about the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl, I was immediately on board. Nonetheless, I didn’t think I would have time to visit all 11 bookstores in a single month, particularly since a few were quite a drive from my home.

What I found was that once I started, I just had to finish it. It was a great excuse to go places I hadn’t been before, connected by a love of books. The most unique was Shelves, a popup bookstore focusing on African American books. The owner, Abby, had set up at Enderly Coffee in west Charlotte. I bought Daniel Black’s Don’t Cry for Me, which I had never heard of before but ended up recommending to family and friends (and now to anyone reading this).

This year, there are 15 bookstores, even into South Carolina, and my initial reaction is that I don’t have time to do that many in one month. I recently mentioned it to my wife and my teenage daughter, both of whom laughed and assumed I would end up going to them all.

As part of the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl, the participating bookstores are collecting donations for Promising Pages, a Charlotte nonprofit organization that provides area children with their own books.  For more information about Promising Pages, please click on the following link:  https://promising-pages.org/

I urge everyone to participate in this year’s Greater Charlotte Book Crawl by visiting the participating bookstores. Here is the full list of these stores:

• The Book Rack, Charlotte
  Facebook:facebook.com/CharlotteBookRack
• Editions Coffee and Bookstore, Kannapolis
  Website: editionsbookstore.com
• Goldberry Books, Concord
  Website: goldberrybooks.com
• Main Street Books, Davidson
  Website: mainstreetbooksdavidson.com
• Park Road Books, Charlotte
  Website: parkroadbooks.com
• Second Look Books, Harrisburg
  Website: secondlookbooks.org
• That’s Novel Books, Charlotte/Camp North End
  Website: thatsnovelbooks.com
• The Urban Reader, Charlotte
  Website: urbanreaderbook.com
• Walls of Books, Cornelius
  Facebook: facebook.com/WOBCornelius
• The Book Lady, Monroe
  Facebook: The Book Lady
• Book Buyers, Charlotte
  website: bookbuyerscharlotte.com
• The Liberty Book Company, Rock Hill
  website: thelibertybookcompany.com
  Instagram: @libertybookco
• Corks, Cooks, & Books, Rock Hill
  website: corkscooksandbooks.com
• Tall Stories, Rock Hill
  Facebook: Tall Stories Book and Print Gallery
• South Main Book Company, Salisbury
  website: southmainbookcompany.com

The Charlotte area is fortunate to have so many indie bookstores.  Each one of them helps make Storied Charlotte a special place for readers and writers. 

March is National Reading Month. The National Education Association (NEA) launched an early version of this month-long promotion of reading in 1994 as part of its literacy education efforts.  However, it has since transcended its origins as an NEA event and has become a true national celebration of reading.  For more information about National Reading Month, please click on the following link: https://nationaltoday.com/national-reading-month/

One of the goals behind National Reading Month is to encourage a lifelong interest in reading.  Organizers of this event argue that if children develop a love of books and reading while they are young, they are more likely to continue reading as adults.  Childhood reading, in other words, can have a lasting impact on a person’s adult life. I completely agree with this point. 

President Theodore Roosevelt is a perfect example of someone whose childhood reading shaped his adult life.  I happen to know something about Roosevelt’s reading practices as a result of editing a book titled Theodore Roosevelt on Books and Reading.  I just put the finishing touches on the index this past weekend.  For authors and editors of scholarly books, compiling an index is the last hurdle that needs to be cleared before the book is published.  For more information about this forthcoming book, please click on the following link:  https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538175460

In his autobiography, Roosevelt recalled that his parents provided him with a wide variety of books throughout his childhood.  He wrote, “There was very little effort made to compel me to read books, my father and mother having the good sense not to try to get me to read anything I did not like unless it was in the way of study. I was given the chance to read books that they thought I ought to read, but if I did not like them I was then given some other good book that I did like.”  Among the many books that Roosevelt read as a child were adventure novels set in the American West, books about animals and their habitats, and myths and sagas from around the world. 

Many of Roosevelt’s adult interests can be traced back to the books he read as a boy.  The stories that he read about the American West contributed to his decision to move to South Dakota as a young man.  He went on to write several books about the history of the West. The animal books he read as a child caused him to take a scientific interest in natural history.  In fact, when he entered Harvard, his intention was to study zoology.  He eventually switched his emphasis to history, but he remained interested in natural history for the rest of his life. His childhood interest in myths and sagas from many lands played a role in his ongoing fascination with world history.  Throughout his presidency, he often drew on his deep knowledge of world history when making decisions and engaging in international negotiations. 

When Roosevelt’s parents provided their young son with a wide variety of books, they helped Roosevelt develop a lifelong interest in reading.  They also helped prepare Roosevelt for his career as a statesman and as an author of more than forty books. 

Of course, providing children with books is no guarantee that they will grow up to become president, but it does help all children realize their potential.  As we celebrate National Reading Month here in Storied Charlotte, it is important to remember that reading can be a transformative experience.