From: melyons at adelphia.net <melyons>
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 16:54:50 -0500

Zora Neale Hurston, along with other women such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin, were the inspiration for a long-ago unit on women writers that I taught to middle schoolers. These women and their splendid works led to my first book, Sorrow's Kitchen: The Life and Folklore of Zora Neale Hurston. Sorrow's Kitchen is YA; I'm happy there will be another book for younger readers, especially one by a Hurston relative.

Sometimes I wonder if the many books written about women over the past 15 years have made any difference. Have meaningful changes occurred in the curriculum, or is it limited to a woman's name patched in here and there (the old "add women and stir" appro ach). With tv programs like "Wife Swap" and "Desperate Housewives," we need good trade books and a comprehensive curriculum more than ever.

Glad to see these last two days of posts about women's history. I had really been looking forward to a long discussion--I'm sorry it's over so soon.

Mary E. Lyons

www.lyonsdenbooks.com
Received on Thu 18 Nov 2004 03:54:50 PM CST