A Blessing in Disguise - Softcover

Tate, Eleanora

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440412099 ISBN 13: 9780440412090

Publisher: Yearling, 1996

Synopsis

Life in itsy bitsy countrified do-nothing Deacon's Neck is plain boring to 12-year-old Zambia Brown. Living with Aunt Limo, Uncle Lamar, and nerdy cousin Aretha is all church, chores, and chump change. But when Zambia's father, Vernon (Snake) LaRange, opens a hot new nightclub down the road, things get more interesting. The neighborhood is up in arms, but Zambia has visions of living large now that Snake is nearby. He's got fine cars, flashy jewelry, and loads of cash. And no matter what her aunt and uncle say, Snake must want Zambia in his life, too...right?

About this title

About the Author

Acclaimed author Eleanora E. Tate feels strongly about creativity. "A nation survives by the creativity of its people who perpetuate the arts. When the arts decline, the nation declines; when the arts flourish, the nation flourishes." The essential thing, she believes, is "telling your message to the world."


Tate has been getting her message out with great power and impact. Her first young adult novel, Just an Overnight Guest, was made into a film starring Rosalind Cash and Richard Roundtree. It was named to the "Selected Films for Young Adults 1985" list by the Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association. Her second novel, The Secret of Gumbo Grove, is a 1987 Parents' Choice Award winner.


Ideas come to her from many sources. The Secret of Gumbo Grove sprang from a three-part series of articles published in The Charleston Chronicle. It was about an old, weedy cemetery in Myrtle Beach where many of the resort's African-American founders are buried.


Also a journalist, Eleanora E. Tate comes from Canton, Missouri, and has written professionally for over 25 years. She is a former president of the National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc. Tate is married to photographer Zack Hamlett, III, and they live in Morehead City, North Carolina.

From the Inside Flap

bitsy countrified do-nothing Deacon's Neck is plain boring to 12-year-old Zambia Brown. Living with Aunt Limo, Uncle Lamar, and nerdy cousin Aretha is all church, chores, and chump change. But when Zambia's father, Vernon (Snake) LaRange, opens a hot new nightclub down the road, things get more interesting. The neighborhood is up in arms, but Zambia has visions of living large now that Snake is nearby. He's got fine cars, flashy jewelry, and loads of cash. And no matter what her aunt and uncle say, Snake must want Zambia in his life, too...right?

Reviews

"The witty and sassy?and sadly innocent?voice of narrator Zambia Brown instantly grabs readers' attention," said PW of the concluding volume of the trilogy begun in The Secret of Gumbo Grove and Thank You, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.! Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

An Excerpt from A Blessing in Disguise

      

      "Well, I can't understand why you hot to call him names and say bad things
      like it's all his fault." I jumped up. "You don't understand either. He's
      rich and got sharp clothes and big cars and gives me money, and . . . and,
      no matter what, he's still my dad!"

      "If he was all that great, he'd have given you his last name, too, but he
      didn't!" Uncle Lamar jumped up too.

      "See, you keep talking mean about him. Snake said I could go live with him
      if I wanted, and he'll buy me all kinds of stuff, and he won't want me to
      have to stay here no more." I stamped out of the living room. . . .

      "I don't have to stay here," I screamed. "I hate you!"

      "Then you go on to him! Go on!" Uncle Lamar snatched up his cap and jammed
      it down on his head. "I've tried to raise you like a father would, but I
      don't want nobody in my house who won't respect me. He's your father,
      true, but he's no good. You'll never get that through your hard head till
      he whops you on it."

      After he left the room I wiped my face on a paper towel and blew my nose.
      Uncle Lamar told me to go, didn't he? God, now I'd have to! I pressed my
      lips together to keep away the fear. Well, I'd show him. I'd go,
      all right--I'd go right over to my father's club and tell my father I was
      ready for him to take me in, like he said he would.

      

Edition details

• Publisher: Yearling
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0440412099
• ISBN 13: 9780440412090
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192