Biography

Twelve -year-old Mary Jemison took her peaceful days on her family's farm in eastern Pennsylvania for granted. But on a spring day in 1758, something happened that changed her life forever. A band of warriors invaded the house and took the Jemison family captive. Mary was separated from her parents and brothers and sister. She traveled with the Indians to southern Ohio and later to a Seneca village on the Genesee River in what is now western New York.

Even as a little girl, Zora Neale Hurston was confident, charismatic, and determined to be extraordinary. As a proud young girl who grew up in an all-black community in Eatonville, Florida, she didn't experience the prejudice that many African Americans felt at the time. In fact, she was so self-confident as a child that she thought the moon followed her wherever she went. She arrived in New York at the height of the Harlem Renaissance and quickly gained recognition for her work, making friends such as Langston Hughes and Alain Locke.

The Bronte sisters were the most extraordinary of literary siblings. In the nineteenth century, when women were discouraged from writing and publishing books, all three produced one or more novels now considered masterpieces. In "The Bronte Sisters," award-winning author Catherine Reef explores the turbulent lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne and offers insights into their passionate and timeless work.

The author of My Name Is María Isabel offers an inspiring look at her childhood in Cuba in this collection that includes Where the Flame Trees Bloom, Under the Royal Palms, five new stories, and more.