Thomas, Joyce Carol 1938–

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Thomas, Joyce Carol 1938–

PERSONAL: Born May 25, 1938, in Ponca City, OK; daughter of Floyd David (a bricklayer) and Leona (a housekeeper and hair stylist; maiden name, Thompson) Haynes; married Gettis L. Withers (a chemist), May 31, 1959 (divorced, 1968); married Roy T. Thomas, Jr., (a professor), September 7, 1968 (divorced, 1979); children: Monica Pecot, Gregory Withers, Michael Withers, Roy T. Thomas III. Education: Attended San Francisco City College, 1957–58, and University of San Francisco, 1957–58; College of San Mateo, A.A., 1964; San Jose State College (now University), B.A., 1966; Stanford University, M.A., 1967.

ADDRESSES: Home—2422 Cedar St., Berkeley, CA 94708. Agent—Anna Ghosh, Scovil-Chichak-Galen Literary Agency, Inc., 381 Park Ave. S., Ste. 1020, New York, NY 10016. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Worked as a telephone operator in San Francisco, CA, 1957–58; Ravenwood School District, East Palo Alto, CA, teacher of French and Spanish, 1968–70; San Jose State College (now University), San Jose, CA, assistant professor of black studies, 1969–72; Contra Costa College, San Pablo, CA, teacher of drama and English, 1973–75; St. Mary's College, Moraga, CA, professor of English, 1975–77; San Jose State University, San Jose, reading program director, 1979–82, associate professor of English, 1982–83; University of Tennessee, Knoxville, associate professor, 1989–92, professor of English, 1992–95. Visiting associate professor of English at Purdue University, spring, 1983.

MEMBER: Dramatists Guild, Authors Guild, Authors League of America.

AWARDS, HONORS: Danforth graduate fellow, University of California at Berkeley, 1973–75; Stanford University scholar, 1979–80, and Djerassi fellow, 1982 and 1983; New York Times outstanding book of the year citation, American Library Association (ALA) best book citation, and American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation, all 1982, and National Book Award for children's fiction, Association of American Publishers, 1983, all for Marked by Fire; Coretta Scott King Award, ALA, 1984, for Bright Shadow; named Outstanding Woman of the Twentieth Century, Sigma Gamma Rho, 1986; Pick of the Lists, American Booksellers, 1986, and Oklahoma Sequoyah Young Adult Book Award Masterlist, 1988–89, both for The Golden Pasture; Arkansas Traveler Award, 1987; Oklahoma Senate and House of Representatives citations, 1989; Chancellor's Award for Research and Creativity, University of Tennessee, and Selected Title for Children and Young Adults, National Conference of Christians and Jews, both 1991, both for A Gathering of Flowers; Proclamation, City of Berkeley, 1992, and Kentucky Blue Grass Award masterlist, 1995, both for When the Nightingale Sings; 100 Children's Books list, New York Public Library, 1993, Coretta Scott King Honor Book, ALA, Notable Children's Books, National Council of Teachers of English, and Mirrors and Windows: Seeing the Human Family Award, National Conference of Christians and Jews, all 1994, all for Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea; Poet Laureate Award, Oklahoma State University Center for Poets and Writers, 1996–2000; Oklahoma Governor's Award, 1998; Celebrated Storyteller Award, People magazine, 1999, for Gingerbread Days; Notable Children's Book Award, ALA, Notable Children's Trade Book in Social Studies Award, National Council for the Social Studies/Children's Book Council, Teacher's Choice Award, International Reading Association, and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book, all 1999, all for I Have Heard of a Land; Parents' Choice Award, 2000, and Oklahoma Book Award, 2001, both for Hush Songs; Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award, Oklahoma Center for the Book, 2001, for body of work; Parents' Choice Award, 2004, for What's the Hurry, Fox?

WRITINGS:

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

Marked by Fire, Avon (New York, NY), 1982.

Bright Shadow, (sequel to Marked by Fire), Avon (New York, NY), 1983.

Water Girl, Avon (New York, NY), 1986.

The Golden Pasture, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1986.

Journey, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1988.

When the Nightingale Sings, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1992.

House of Light (sequel to Marked by Fire and Bright Shadow), Hyperion (New York, NY), 2001.

Abide with Me, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2001.

FOR CHILDREN

Cherish Me (picture book), illustrated by Nneka Bennett, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.

You Are My Perfect Baby (board book), illustrated by Nneka Bennett, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

The Gospel Cinderella (picture book), illustrated by David Diaz, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

The Bowlegged Rooster and Other Tales That Signify (short stories), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

Hush Songs: African American Lullabies (picture book), illustrated by Brenda Joysmith, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2000.

Joy! (board book), illustrated by Pamela Johnson, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2001.

Angel's Lullaby (board book), illustrated by Pamela Johnson, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2001.

(Adapter) Zora Neale Hurston, What's the Hurry, Fox?: And Other Animal Stories, illustrated by Bryan Collier, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

(Adapter) Zora Neale Hurston, The Skull Talks Back and Other Haunting Tales, illustrated by Leonard Jenkins, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

POETRY

Bittersweet, Firesign Press (San Jose, CA), 1973.

Crystal Breezes, Firesign Press (San Jose, CA), 1974.

Blessing, Jocato Press (Berkeley, CA), 1975.

Black Child, illustrated by Tom Feelings, Zamani Productions (New York, NY), 1981.

Inside the Rainbow, Zikawana Press (Palo Alto, CA), 1982.

Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1993.

Gingerbread Days, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1995.

The Blacker the Berry, illustrated by Brenda Joysmith, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

I Have Heard of a Land, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.

A Mother's Heart, a Daughter's Love, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Crowning Glory, illustrated by Brenda Joysmith, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

PLAYS

(And producer) A Song in the Sky (two-act), produced in San Francisco, CA, at Montgomery Theater, 1976.

Look! What a Wonder! (two-act), produced in Berkeley, CA, at Berkeley Community Theatre, 1976.

(And producer) Magnolia (two-act), produced in San Francisco, CA, at Old San Francisco Opera House, 1977.

(And producer) Ambrosia (two-act), produced in San Francisco, CA, at Little Fox Theatre, 1978.

Gospel Roots (two-act), produced in Carson, CA, at California State University, 1981.

I Have Heard of a Land, produced in Oklahoma City, OK, at Claussen Theatre, 1989.

When the Nightingale Sings, produced in Knoxville, TN, at Clarence Brown Theatre, 1991.

(And director) A Mother's Heart (two-act), produced in San Francisco, CA, at Marsh Theater, 2001.

OTHER

(Editor and contributor) A Gathering of Flowers: Stories about Being Young in America (includes Thomas's short story "Young Reverend Zelma Lee Moses"), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1990.

(Editor and contributor) Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone: The Brown v. Board of Education Decision, Jump at the Sun (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor of short story, "Handling Snakes," to I Believe in Water, edited by Marilyn Singer, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000. Contributor to periodicals, including American Poetry Review, Black Scholar, Calafia, Drum Voices, Giant Talk, and Yardbird Reader. Editor of Ambrosia (women's newsletter), 1980.

ADAPTATIONS: Thomas's novel Marked by Fire was adapted as a stage musical by James Racheff and Ted Kociolek.

SIDELIGHTS: Joyce Carol Thomas is a celebrated author of young adult novels, poetry, and picture books, as well as fiction and poetry for adults. The winner of the 1983 National Book Award for her first novel, Marked by Fire, and the Coretta Scott King Award for her second, Bright Shadow, Thomas hit the ground running with her writing career and has never looked back. Using her own unique rural background of Oklahoma and California, she has created a lyrical world of childhood—portraying not only its joys but also its gross injustices—that resonates across racial lines. In both her poetry and fiction, Thomas conjures stories of African-American heritage, family history, and universal truths. Thomas's background as a migrant farm worker in rural Oklahoma and California supplies her with the prolific stock of characters and situations that fill her novels, while her love affair with language began with the words and songs she heard in church.

Thomas grew up in Ponca City, Oklahoma, a small, dusty town where she lived across from the school. This place has found a permanent home in Thomas's mind. "Although now I live half a continent away from my hometown," Thomas related in Something about the Author Autobiography Series (SAAS), "when it comes to my writing I find that I am often still there." She has set several of her novels in her hometown, including Marked by Fire, Bright Shadow, The Golden Pasture, and House of Light. Thomas loved school as a child and became anxious whenever it appeared she might be late—she didn't want to miss anything. However, she usually missed the first month of school in order to finish up work on her family's farm. Times were lean for Thomas's family, but they always made do. This she attributes partly to her mother's genius at making healthy foods that weren't expensive; she has memories of huge spreads being laid out for Sunday dinners. These scenes of food have stuck with Thomas, for she finds food is one of the focuses in her novels. "Because in such a home food was another language for love, my books are redolent of sugar and spice, kale and collards," Thomas commented in SAAS.

When Thomas was ten years old, the family moved to rural Tracy, California. There Thomas learned to milk cows, fish for minnows, and harvest tomatoes and grapes. She also became intimately acquainted with black widow spiders—there was a nest of them under her bed. She was later to use this experience in her novel Journey. Likewise, she had a similar experience with wasps when her brother locked her in a closet containing a nest of them; Marked by Fire contains some frightening scenes with these insects. In Tracy, California, Thomas continued spending long summers harvesting crops. She worked beside many Mexicans and began a long-lasting fascination with their language. "When the Spanish speakers talked they seemed to sing," Thomas remarked in SAAS. When she went to college, she majored in Spanish and French. "From this base of languages I taught myself much that I know about writing," she related in SAAS. She went on to earn a master's degree from Stanford University, and then taught foreign languages in public school.

From 1973 to 1978, Thomas wrote poetry and plays for adults, taught in various colleges and universities, and traveled to conferences and festivals all over the world, including Lagos, Nigeria. In 1982, Thomas's career took a turn when she published Marked by Fire, a novel for a young adult audience. Steeped in the setting and traditions of her hometown, the novel focused on Abyssinia Jackson, a girl who was born in a cotton field during harvest time. The title refers to the fact that she received a burn on her face from a brush fire during her birth. This leaves her "marked for unbearable pain and unspeakable joy," according to the local healer. The child shows a remarkable talent for singing until she is raped by a member of the church. The story of how she heals from this tragedy fills the rest of the novel.

The book was critically acclaimed and placed on required reading lists at many high schools and universities. Writing in Black Scholar, critic Dorothy Randall-Tsuruta noted that Thomas's "poetic tone gives this work what scents give the roses already so pleasing in color." Reviewing this debut novel in School Library Journal, Hazel Rochman felt that while the "lack of a fast-paced narrative line and the mythical overtones may present obstacles to some readers, many will be moved" by the story of Abyssinia. Best Sellers reviewer Wendell Wray noted that Thomas "captures the flavor of black folk life in Oklahoma." Wray further observed that though she "has set for herself a challenging task … Thomas's book works." Commenting about her stormy novel, Thomas once stated that "as a writer I work to create books filled with conflict…. I address this quest in part by matching the pitiful absurdities and heady contradictions of life itself, in part by leading the heroine to twin fountains of magic and the macabre, and evoking the holy and the horrible in the same breath. Nor is it ever enough to match these. Through the character of Abyssinia, I strive for what is beyond these, seeking to find newer worlds."

Bright Shadow, a sequel to Marked by Fire, was published in 1983. In this work, Abyssinia goes to college and ends up falling in love with Carl Lee Jefferson. The couple work through many problems in order to find their own kind of love. The winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, Bright Shadow was called "appealing" by Zena Sutherland, writing in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. However, as with many of Thomas's books, some critics faulted her for the use of overly epic language. Sutherland, for one, felt that "the often-ornate phraseology" sometimes weakens the story.

Several of Thomas's subsequent books also feature these popular characters from her first two books, including The Golden Pasture, which journeys back to Carl Lee's earlier life on his grandfather's ranch, and Water Girl, which tells the story of Abyssinia's teenage daughter, Amber, who was given up for adoption. Amber only learns of her biological mother when, after an earthquake, she finds an old letter that speaks of the adoption. Reviewing The Golden Pasture in Publishers Weekly, a contributor called the book "a spirited, lyrical tale with a memorable cast of characters."

With Journey, her fifth novel, Thomas broke new literary ground for herself, mixing fantasy and mystery to come up with a story of crime and family history. Meggie Alexander, "blessed" at birth by a tarantula, has uncommon powers. As an adolescent she investigates the disappearance of several of her friends in the woods, and discovers that some of them have been murdered. Meggie herself is soon kidnapped and thrust into horrible danger. Less well received than many of her other novels, Journey did earn accolades from a writer for Kirkus Reviews who felt that Thomas "dramatically juxtaposes her story's horror with the joy of existence." Other reviewers, such as Starr LaTronica of School Library Journal, were less enthusiastic. "This discordant mixture of fantasy and mystery … never blend[s] successfully," LaTronica wrote.

With When the Nightingale Sings, Thomas creates a sort of Cinderella story about young Marigold, who is discovered in a swamp and lives with her foster mother, Ruby, and twin stepsisters. As in the fairy tale, this family treats the young girl as a servant rather than a relative. Finally, Marigold turns her attentions away from this abusive foster family and to the local Baptist Church. It is there she finds real salvation, discovering the gift of music in gospel songs. Reviewing this and other books by Thomas in the St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, a contributor noted that Thomas's use of language "is exquisite; this craftsmanship provides words that are of music, voice, and song. Her characters are often musical, and the church—the gospel music, rhythm, movement, and harmony—provides not only a backdrop, but a language that expresses the spirit of the community." The same critic went on to observe, "Proverbs, folk wisdom, scripture, and prophecy are liberally scattered among the voices of the characters."

Thomas tells a similar story in The Gospel Cinderella, illustrated by David Diaz. Queen Mother Rhythm's baby was lost in a hurricane, and now, many years later, she holds a Great Gospel Convention to find a new lead singer—a Daughter of Rhythm—for the Great Gospel Choir. The lost baby survived, and was found by Crooked Foster Mother and named Cinderella—"seein' how you're as dirty as a cinder pile." Crooked Foster Mother's twin daughters, Hennie and Minnie, decide to go audition, despite the fact that they are horrible singers. Cinderella has an amazing voice, but, as an overworked servant, she is not allowed to go. She sneaks out anyway and, of course, sings beautifully. "The ending is predictable and follows the basic folkloric story structure," commented a Kirkus Reviews contributor, but, as Ilene Cooper wrote in Booklist, "there's certain freshness in having the women in the forefront."

Thomas's first adult novel, House of Light, furthers the story of Abyssinia Jackson begun in Marked by Fire and continued in Bright Shadow. Now a doctor and healer, Abby Jackson-Jefferson is the main narrator of these tales, which relate the lives of a myriad of patients in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Reviewing the title in Booklist, Hazel Rochman felt that this title "is sure to be popular for the lively dialogue, the sense of community, and yes, the hopeful message." A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book "moving" and "marred only by unsubtle repetition, a rhetorical device Thomas relies on too frequently." However, a Kirkus Reviews critic offered a different opinion, writing that "lyrical, earthy prose gives this deceptively simple story depth and richness."

Much of Thomas's talent, energy, and output has been focused on poetry for young readers and on picture books for the very young. In partnership with illustrator Floyd Cooper, Thomas has created a trio of poetry books aimed at the five-to-nine-year-old reading audience. In the award-winning Brown Honey in Broom-wheat Tea, Thomas gathers a dozen poems dealing with the family, home, and the African-American experience in a "highly readable and attractive picture book," according to a reviewer for Booklist. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the poems "lyrical" evocations of the African-American heritage. The title poem recalls Thomas's own childhood, when broomwheat tea was used as an elixir for anything that ailed the young girl. Thomas and Cooper again teamed up for Gingerbread Days, a picture book, containing a dozen poems, that "celebrates the passage of a year within the circle of an extended African-American family," as Meg Stackpole noted in a School Library Journal review. "Like food stored away for winter, this rich harvest of poems con-tains enough sustenance to last throughout the year," wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer of the same book. "Thomas's simple but touching language describes a hopeful world … where love is as wonderful as gingerbread, warm and spicy from the oven," the same reviewer concluded. Horn Book's Martha V. Parravano observed that Gingerbread Days was a "worthy companion" to Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, "made even stronger by Floyd Cooper's glowing, golden illustrations." I Have Heard of a Land, which continues the Thomas-Cooper collaboration, is an illustrated book of poems that celebrate the role of African-American women pioneers in the nineteenth-century frontier, largely in Oklahoma. A writer for Publishers Weekly called the book a "moving poetic account of a brave black woman," while Booklist's Ilene Cooper dubbed it a "lyrical tribute to the pioneer spirit."

Another book of poetry by Thomas, Crowning Glory, was illustrated by Brenda Joysmith. In the poems contained in Crowning Glory, "Thomas lovingly extols the virtues and beauty of braids[,] cornrows[, and] dreadlocks," Barbara Buckley explained in School Library Journal. The poems are written from the point of view of a young girl, who observes and participates in her extended family's hair-care rituals. Great Grandma shows the girl how to wrap black twine through her hair to make it stronger; the girl's mother braids her hair; and she has a relaxing experience having her hair washed at Glory's Beauty Shop. "These poems are as much about the love among all the women of her family, as they tenderly share secrets and wisdom, as it is about hairstyles," commented a Kirkus Reviews contributor.

Thomas has also worked with illustrator Nneka Bennett on two books for very young children, Cherish Me and You Are My Perfect Baby. Reviewing the first title in Booklist, Kathy Broderick called Thomas's poem "compelling" and described the book as a "winning offering." Another title for the very young is Hush Songs: African American Lullabies, a book designed for adults to sing to babies and preschoolers which collects ten African-American lullabies, including three written by Thomas, under one cover. Claiming that "the songs themselves are timeless," Booklist reviewer Rochman wrote that the lullabies "touch all of us." With A Mother's Heart, a Daughter's Love, Thomas honors the bond between those two family member with poems from the point of view of each. In the Bowlegged Rooster and Other Tales That Signify, she serves up five short stories for young readers featuring Papa Rooster and his chick, all set in Possum Neck, Mississippi. "Although the plots are not always terrifically involving," wrote Steven Engelfried in School Library Journal, "the animals' personalities and the bustling atmosphere of the barnyard make these tales appealing." Shelley Townsend-Hudson, writing in Booklist, felt these tales are "a joy to hear as well as to read."

More recently, Thomas adapted for children some of the many traditional African-American folktales collected by Zora Neale Hurston in the 1930s in Every Tongue Got to Confess. In What's the Hurry, Fox?: And Other Animal Stories, Thomas's first collection of these adaptations, she "us[es] humor, wit, and a colloquial style true to the spirit of the originals," Hazel Rochman wrote in Booklist. The tales were originally transcribed in a thick Southern dialect that would be inaccessible to many modern children; in Thomas's versions "their regional flavor has been toned down, but not completely erased," noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor, but other than that few changes were made to the stories.

Thomas is also the editor of the collection Linda Brown, You are Not Alone: The Brown v. Board of Education Decision. The book features essays and poems by several well-known children's book authors, both African-American (Ishmael Reed, Quincy Troupe) and white (Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson), who look back at the end of educational segregation fifty years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling. "Their personal reminiscences capture a spectrum of powerfully expressed emotions," wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Several critics noted that the target audience of the pieces varied widely; some essays discussed such concepts as "white flight" and "model minorities" at a level that would be above most elementary school children, while the illustrations by Curtis James and other selections seemed to indicate just such an audience. However, "all the passages will bring children up close to the complex realities of segregated society," Gillian Engberg wrote in Booklist.

With her imagination and ability to bring authenticity to her novels, Thomas has been highly praised and often compared to other noted black women authors, including Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker. "If I had to give advice to young people," Thomas commented in her SAAS essay, "it would be that whatever your career choice, prepare yourself to do it well. Quality takes talent and time. Believe in your dreams. Have faith in yourself. Keep working and enjoying today even as you reach for tomorrow. If you choose to write, value your experiences. And color them in the indelible ink of your own background."

"I work for authenticity of voice," Thomas commented in SAAS, "fidelity to detail, and naturalness of develop-ments." It is this authenticity that critics say sings out in all of Thomas's work, and that allows her fiction and poetry to transcend race, gender, and geography. "I treasure and value the experiences that include us all as people," Thomas concluded in SAAS. "I don't pay any attention to boundaries."

Thomas once commented: "I am happiest around sunlight, flowers, and trees. I like quiet, comfortable places to think. I especially like to encourage my children, my grandchildren and all young people. I enjoy the process of writing. It starts within the imagination. What a wonderful place is the mind. So welcoming!… I hope you [readers] will be happy in whatever direction you choose to take your life. And if you come across a book of mine, I wish you happy reading."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 12, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1994.

Children's Literature Review, Volume 19, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1990.

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 35, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1985.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 33: Afro-American Fiction Writers after 1955, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1984.

St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, 2nd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Something about the Author Autobiography Series, Volume 7, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1989.

Thomas, Joyce Carol, Marked by Fire, Avon (New York, NY), 1982.

Thomas, Joyce Carol, The Gospel Cinderella (picture book), illustrated by David Diaz, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

PERIODICALS

African American Review, spring, 1998, Darwin L. Henderson and Anthony L. Manna, "Evoking the 'Holy and the Horrible': Conversations with Joyce Carol Thomas," pp. 139-147.

Best Sellers, June, 1982, Wendell Wray, review of Marked by Fire, pp. 123-124.

Black Issues Review, May, 2001, Althea Gamble, review of House of Light, p. 23; July-August, 2004, Suzanne Rust, review of What's the Hurry, Fox?: And Other Animal Stories, p. 60.

Black Scholar, summer, 1982, Dorothy Randall-Tsuruta, review of Marked by Fire, p. 48.

Booklist, February 15, 1986, pp. 861-862; February 15, 1994, review of Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, p. 1081; September 15, 1995, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Gingerbread Days, p. 176; March 15, 1997, Sue-Ellen Beauregard, review of Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea (video), p. 1249; February 15, 1998, Ilene Cooper, review of I Have Heard of a Land, p. 1009; January 1, 1999, Kathy Broderick, review of Cherish Me, p. 891; October 1, 2000, Shelley Townsend-Hudson, review of The Bowlegged Rooster and Other Tales That Signify, p. 342; December 15, 2000, Hazel Rochman, review of Hush Songs: African American Lullabies, p. 823; February 15, 2001, Hazel Rochman, review of House of Light, p. 1101; March 15, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of A Mother's Heart, a Daughter's Love, p. 1392; September 15, 2002, Cynthia Turnquest, review of Crowning Glory, p. 238; December 1, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone: The Brown v. Board of Education Decision, p. 658; February 14, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of The Gospel Cinderella, p. 1078; May 15, 2004, Hazel Rochman, review of What's the Hurry, Fox?, p. 1622.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February, 1984, Zena Sutherland, review of Bright Shadow, p. 119; June, 1998, pp. 376-377.

Ebony, February, 2004, review of Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone, p. 24.

English Journal, April, 1991, Elizabeth A. Belden and Judith M. Beckman, review of A Gathering of Flowers: Stories about Being Young in America, p. 83; October, 1993, John H. Bushman and Kay Parks Bushman, review of When the Nightingale Sings, p. 81.

Horn Book, March-April, 1996, Martha V. Parravano, review of Gingerbread Days, pp. 219-220.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1988, review of Journey, p. 1410; February 1, 2001, review of House of Light; May 15, 2002, review of Crowning Glory, p. 742; November 15, 2003, review of Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone, p. 1364; April 1, 2004, review of What's the Hurry, Fox?, p. 331; April 15, 2004, review of The Gospel Cinderella, p. 402.

Publishers Weekly, July 25, 1986, review of The Golden Pasture, p. 191; September 9, 1988, Kimberly Olson Fakih and Diane Roback, review of Journey, p. 140; October 11, 1993, review of Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, p. 87; September 25, 1995, review of Gingerbread Days, p. 57; January 8, 1996, review of Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, p. 70; April 6, 1998, review of I Have Heard of a Land, p. 77; October 19, 1998, p. 83; February 19, 2001, review of House of Light, p. 69; May 6, 2002, review of Crowning Glory, pp. 57-58; December 8, 2003, review of Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone, pp. 62-63; April 19, 2004, review of What's the Hurry, Fox?, pp. 63-64; May 24, 2004, review of The Gospel Cinderella, p. 62.

School Library Journal, March, 1982, Hazel Rochman, review of Marked by Fire, p. 162; January, 1984, pp. 89-90; August, 1986, David A. Lindsey, review of The Golden Pasture, p. 107; October, 1988, Starr LaTronica, review of Journey, p. 165; October, 1990, Marjorie Lewis, review of A Gathering of Flowers, p. 145; February, 1993, Amy Healey, review of When the Nightingale Sings, pp. 106-107; November, 1993, Lyn Miller-Lachmann, review of Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, p. 103; January, 1996, Meg Stackpole, review of Gingerbread Days, p. 107; December, 1998, Martha Topol, review of Cherish Me!, p. 116; August, 1999, p. 132; November, 2000, Steven Engelfried, review of The Bowlegged Rooster and Other Tales That Signify, p. 135; February, 2002, Bina Williams, review of Joy!, p. 114; June, 2002, Barbara Buckley, review of Crowning Glory, pp. 126-127; January, 2004, Kelly Czarnecki, review of Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone, p. 161; April, 2004, Mary N. Oluonye, review of What's the Hurry, Fox?, p. 144; May, 2004, Mary N. Oluonye, review of The Gospel Cinderella, pp. 136-137.