From: Elsa Marston <elsa.marston_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 11:19:58 -0500

When I was in junior high I read a wonderful book called JENNY'S SECRET ISLAND. It took place in Bermuda and involved a cave and a beautiful small bay and--wonderful stuff for a mystery/adventure!--ambergris. That's all I remember of it, except that the main character, Jenny, was strong, brave, persistent in whatever she was trying to do, and I longed to be her. The book had a seminal effect on my fascination for "exotic places" and my eventual inclination to write that kind of story. JENNY'S SECRET ISLAND would have been published in the 1940s--yes, way back then!

A more recent heroine whom I especially admired is Lizzie in Gary Schmidt's wonderfully moving book, LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY. She's a delightful character in all ways; and I was especially affected by the way Schmidt did *not *allow her to triumph--except in a moral sense, as the embodiment and in the collective memory of all young black women (and others) victimized by prejudice and cruelty.

Elsa www.elsamarston.com
Received on Sun 13 Mar 2011 11:19:58 AM CDT