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ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: We Are the Scribes
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.randipink.com/
CITY: Birmingham
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 354
https://thesweetsixteens.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/meet-the-author-randi-pink/ * http://www.diversifya.com/diversifya/diversifya-randi-pink/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Birmingham, AL; married; children: yes.
EDUCATION:Studied at University of Alabama at Birmingham.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Has also worked for a branch of National Public Radio.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Randi Pink is an American writer of young adult novels. Born and raised in Alabama, she draws on her Southern heritage in her writing. Pink studied at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s creative writing program. Pink talked about her interest in writing historical fiction in an interview in Culturess. She insisted that “history is a point of passion. I want to know why things are the way they are and I’m willing to dig, dive, and investigate until I figure that out. But even I recall some history courses being unbearably boring. Historical fiction, however, can be a fantastic jumping off point toward lively discussion.”
Pink published her first novel, Into White, in 2016. Teenager Toya wishes that she was not black since even other African Americans would bully her. She prays to Jesus and partially has her wish granted. While her family still sees her as being black, her classmates see her as having blue eyes and blonde hair. Toya’s relationship with her older brother falls apart as Toya becomes popular with the jocks and cheerleaders at her school. While Toya initially likes her new status in life, she realizes that her personality is still influenced by her race and upbringing and is not consistent with others’ expectations as to how she should act based on how she currently looks. Toya learns that her former blackness makes a lot more sense than it had previously.
Pink spoke with A.C. Thomas in an interview in the Swanky Seventeens blog about her choice to tackle the topics of self-identification and colorism in the African American community. She admitted that covering those issues in the novel was important “because I saw a hole that needed to be filled. Colorism is still reality, and many people toil with self-identification and self-loathing. These issues can be difficult to navigate in daily life, but our literature has to be the brutal mirror we hold to ourselves and our society.” Pink discussed the early stages of writing Into White with Eve Messenger in an eponymously named website. Pink recalled that she “feared judgment” when sharing the story for the first time in a children’s literature workshop that she was participating in. Pink stated: “Stepping into that class and opening myself up to criticism taught me a valuable lesson about writing—as long as the story is rooted in truth, the audience will respond positively. I also learned that fear and creativity can’t live in the same place—one kills the other.”
Writing in the Voice of Youth Advocates, Jane Murphy remarked that “the effects of class, race, and gender are fruitful for discussion in the classroom. Family values, community standards, today’s education system, and the importance of compassion for others are” covered in the story. Booklist contributor Reinhardt Suarez commented that “this debut ought to inspire readers to have conversations among themselves about family, empathy, community, and respect for others.” Reviewing the novel in School Library Journal, Briana Moore lamented that “the underdeveloped characters and outlandish plot do an injustice to the issues explored in this work.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly noted that the novel delves “into thorny issues of identity, self-image, and the internal effects of racism in a strikingly frank way.”
Pink published Girls Like Us in 2019. The story follows four girls in Alabama in 1972 as they cope with how their pregnancies alter their lives. Sixteen-year-old Ola is pregnant with her Vietnam War veteran boyfriend. Her fifteen-year-old sister helps her find ways to abort the baby. Their mother, meanwhile, takes care of fourteen-year-old Missippi, who is lonely and pregnant with her abusive uncle’s child. She then moves into a house for pregnant teens in Chicago and meets seventeen-year-old Sue—the daughter of a politician—who is a staunch advocate for women’s rights.
A contributor to Publishers Weekly observed that the author “offers a timely, sobering account of the reality women faced before abortion was made legal.” The same reviewer criticized, though, that some of the novel’s “plot elements don’t add up.” Booklist contributor Mahjabeen Syed noted that “these stories are a reminder of what horrors lie ahead if history repeats itself.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor pointed out that Pink “brings to light the reality about the lack of choices that women, especially young, unwed women, had in regard to their futures.” Reviewing the novel in School Library Journal, Enn Holt called it “an excellent fictionalized look at the reality of teen pregnancy with a historical lens,” adding that it is “a must for all teen collections.”
(open new)Angel of Greenwood is set in 1917 and centers on seventeen-year-old Isaiah, who lives in the affluent Greenwood district of Tulsa. The area, which was known as the Black Wall Street for the number of wealthy Black families living there, was burned down as a result of racial troubles. Pink shows the lead up to this event as Isaiah falls in love with Angel. A Publishers Weekly contributor pointed out that this novel is “rich in its discussion of Black literature.” Booklist contributor Michael Cart claimed that the novel “deserves praise for its vivid treatment of the invasion and, importantly, for how it invites empathy.”
In We Are the Scribes, sixteen-year-old Ruth Fitz finds herself in the limelight due to her activist family’s line of work. She would prefer to live a quiet life as a writer. Her life changes drastically when her sister is killed at a protest and former slave and author Harriet Jacobs starts sending her parchment scrolls that read: “We Are the Scribes.” Ruth finds comfort and strength in Harriet’s writings as she learns to advocate in her own way. Writing in School Library Journal, Janet Hilbun suggested that “if YA patrons can read cursive writing, this book is highly recommended for all collections.” A Publishers Weekly contributor observed that “Pink mindfully ruminates on the healing and lifesaving power of words, expertly highlighting Harriet’s experiences.”(close new)
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2016, Reinhardt Suarez, review of Into White, p. 109; September 1, 2019, Mahjabeen Syed, review of Girls Like Us, p. 103; January 1, 2021, Michael Cart, review of Angel of Greenwood, p. 67.
Kirkus Reviews August 15, 2019, review of Girls Like Us.
Publishers Weekly, July 4, 2016, review of Into White, p. 69; September 9, 2019, review of Girls Like Us, p. 69; January 7, 2021, Sanina Clark, “Q&A with Randi Pink;” November 24, 2021, review of Angel of Greenwood, p. 96; September 5, 2022, review of We Are the Scribes, p. 105.
School Library Journal, September 1, 2016, Brianna Moore, review of Into White, p. 162; September 1, 2019, Enn Holt, review of Girls Like Us, p. 130; December 1, 2022, Janet Hilbun, review of We Are the Scribes, p. 93.
Voice of Youth Advocates, October 1, 2016, Jane Murphy, review of Into White, p. 78.
ONLINE
Cotton Quilts, https://edicottonquilt.com/ (May 19, 2021), author interview.
Culturess, https://culturess.com/ (January 12, 2021), Molly Catherine Turner, author interview.
Eve Messenger, https://evemessenger.com/ (February 16, 2016), author interview.
Fierce Reads, https://www.fiercereads.com/ (October 14, 2022), author interview.
Nerd Daily, https://thenerddaily.com/ (January 14, 2021), Elise Dumpleton, author interview.
Randi Pink website, http://www.randipink.com (December 7, 2019).
Swanky Seventeens, https://swankyseventeens.wordpress.com/ (September 15, 2016), A.C. Thomas, author interview.
Sweet Sixteens, https://thesweetsixteens.wordpress.com/ (December 8, 2014), “Meet the Author: Randi Pink.”*
Q&A: Randi Pink, Author of ‘Angel of Greenwood’
Elise Dumpleton·Writers Corner·January 14, 2021·5 min read
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We chat to author Randi Pink about her new historical YA novel, Angel of Greenwood, which takes place during the Greenwood Massacre of 1921, in an area of Tulsa, OK, known as the Black Wall Street. Randi speaks of her new novel and its inspiration, the best and worst writing advice she’s received, and more.
Hi, Randi! Tell us a bit about yourself!
I used to be a jazz singer. Scat was my specialty, an improvisational wordless way of singing. I’m answering with this seemingly obscure fact about myself because it explains something about my personality that can’t be articulated in traditional ways.
Scat singing is a rare talent since, to succeed at it, you have to be willing to risk it all and trust that the next nonsensical syllable that comes out of your mouth will fit into the melody. And maybe more importantly, when it doesn’t fit, a scat singer must adjust in a millisecond or the big band and audience will be lost.
As I sit here writing this, I remember a few times when my improvisation went so far left that I lost everyone in the room. To someone else, those moments might seem mortifying, but I smile at them because it’s the essence of who I am – willing to take the leap, and even in dizzying free fall, trust my instincts to land on my feet.
2020 was an incredibly bizarre year, and it’s rolling on into 2021. Have you set any resolutions for the year?
One of my last in-person sermons of 2020 was titled Brokenness Before Breakthrough. It was preached on January 5, 2020. I know this because I wrote those three words on a straggly strip of paper and taped them to the dash of my car.
Nearly a year later, the phrase is still there – Brokenness Before Breakthrough – staring back at me every time I slide into the driver’s seat.
When the world shut down, I drove around a lot. In the beginning, I was terrified to even crack the windows for fear of virus floating in the air. I pressed the in-car air circulation button as not to bring any deadliness in on myself and my two tiny children. I spent a lot of 2020 terrified, actually. But all the while, there, riding with me on the dash was that phrase – Brokenness Before Breakthrough.
In the Spring, I focused the weight of my attention on the word brokenness. I knew that I was broken. Without a doubt, I was. But by the height of summer, sun burnt and fading, the second word, before, became the silent refrain of my life. I felt a transitioning from fear to something unexplainable. Then, by fall, cracks began to fill in a bit. And by winter, I could feel myself coming back together, piece by piece. No longer broken, but not like before either. More like stained glass shards pieced into something different.
That, I apologize for the lengthiness, is a highly convoluted way of saying that my resolution for 2021 is Breakthrough.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I was the quiet one in the house full of talkers. I’m not complaining! In that environment, I learned the incomparable value of listening. I listened, not only to words spoken, but also to cadences and deliveries and pauses and interruptions. All the while paying close attention to my own internal, emotional reactions to those things around me.
I felt strongly, but I did so in quiet corners with ink pens. Sometimes, I’d write something powerful and surprise even myself. I liked that feeling so I wrote on. Eventually, anything that affected me in any substantial way, I’d sort out the emotion by writing through it.
Writing became my coping mechanism, and eventually, it became the love of my life.
Your new novel, Angel of Greenwood, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Brilliance. Love. Resiliency. Hope. Triumph.
Now tell us a little more! What can readers expect?
The Greenwood District of Tulsa is so much more than the Massacre. Greenwood itself is triumph unyielding. It’s a place in our history that represents the human spirit in its purest form and the will to rise in the ugly face of hate.
Readers can expect to fall madly in love with a place called Greenwood.
What was the inspiration behind this novel?
This novel started as a dream.
I began visualizing a place where my Black children could comfortably walk down the sidewalk. I pictured them doing this as teenagers one day, and thought, where in my town would they feel most at ease going for a simple walk? My town is still deeply divided so I had troubling nailing down a place for them in my mind.
So, as I do, I wrote a place for us. A place with tree-lined streets and squatty mom-and-pop shops on the Boulevard. A place of Black excellence where everybody knows everybody else’s name.
A few weeks after I’d dreamt up this place, a wonderful librarian told me the story of Greenwood and the essence of that work became Angel of Greenwood.
What challenges did you face while writing and how did you overcome them?
The Greenwood Race Massacre happened on May 31st, 1921 and the cover-up began immediately afterward. Newspapers grossly under reported the destruction of the Greenwood District, many officials were involved themselves, and until recently, the Massacre was even referred to as a riot, which completely misrepresents the reality of what happened there. The most horrific example of the elaborate cover up is that mass graves are only now being uncovered, nearly one hundred years later.
See also
Romance and the Mental Health Stigma
The biggest challenge was carefully sifting through history to ensure that Angel of Greenwood was historically accurate.
To overcome this challenge, I read and studied works by historian Hannibal B. Johnson, Tim Madigan and many others. I combed through the Tulsa Historical Society archives, which have been meticulously sorted. I sought every ounce of literature and reporting that I could find.
What do you hope readers will take away from Angel of Greenwood?
I hope readers will share the history of the Greenwood Race Massacre. Too many people still have not heard about what happened there in the summer of 1921. This is a part of our history and everyone should know.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
The best writing advice I ever received was from my former Creative Writing professor and wonderful author, Kerry Madden. She told me to write forward. That’s become a bit of a refrain in my heart and mind ever since she said it.
The worst writing advice I’ve ever received has come from all sides since I shared that I was pursuing writing as a career. It’s been more of an implication really, to grow up and stop chasing the pipe dream of being an author. To move along with my life and fall in line. At one point, I began to believe it too and applied for a few Human Resource jobs, but no one would hire me. So I had to keep writing.
What’s next for you?
I just want to write. Anything and everything. Truly. I just want to write.
Lastly, what are you currently reading and what 2021 book recommendations do you have for our readers?
Right now, I’m reading Bunheads by Misty Copeland with my three-year-old daughter. She’d be in ballet right now, but pandemic.
My 2021 recommendations would be anything by Kelly Quindlen.
interview: Randi Pink
I recently interviewed Randi Pink, author of Into White; Girls Like Us and most recently, Angel of Greenwood, which I reviewed a few weeks ago. From her website, Randi is “A native and resident of Birmingham, AL, Randi Pink leverages her unique experience with her southern roots when she writes. Randi is a mother, a wife, a writer, an advocate, a fighter, a friend, and so much more. Through a platform of encouragement, advice, and love, Randi loves connecting with the community around her and her loyal community of readers.”
Here’s an opportunity to get to know a little more about her through her writing.
EC: I hope you and your family have been well during the pandemic! It’s a bit hard to believe we’re starting to open up and move forward but, here we are. Have you been able to look back and glean anything from the past year?
RP: It’s funny you’d use the word glean in this question, because, for a year now, my mantra has been to glean the unwanted edges. Take in my hands the tiny victories and make desirable things with them, in spite of. That’s been my pandemic – hands, brain, fingers, ink pen, words, stories, and eventually, Angel of Greenwood, then We Are the Scribes, and essays on essays written. I tried so very hard to glean something from the pain of 2020.
Some days, I’d force in myself the will to set one foot in front of the other, or more specifically, write one word and then another and another until I felt they made something worth gleaning. Other days, like today honestly, I’d crack underneath the weight of it all. As I write this, Edith, I cannot see my screen through the tears.
EC: I find that books I really enjoy are ones that manage to develop place as well as they develop character. From your research, what was the character of Greenwood like?
RP: Greenwood Glorious Greenwood.
The Tulsa Race Massacre is a devastating event in American history. But the fact that Greenwood was built on the heels of Reconstruction, and likely by formerly enslaved people and direct descendants of formerly enslaved people, is triumphant.
The creation of Greenwood is a miracle of strength and resilience. It’s so much more than the massacre, and while the massacre must be taught, we should also know the names of those who built a marvel such as Greenwood in the first place, not just the names of those who tried to destroy it.
To answer your question more succinctly, Greenwood the character is more powerful than hate. More resilient than any who’d dare come against it; an outright refusal to forever fall. Greenwood is a shining example that the human spirit is regenerative and impossible to kill.
EC: Why and how did you choose this narrative voice? Did you know from the beginning you didn’t want to do first person or was it a process?
RP: Honestly, the process of writing Angel of Greenwood was different than my other novels. Mid-pandemic, post-partum, and soon-to-be-divorced, I mostly wrote to keep from screaming out. If I had a process, it would be too chaotic to explain. I do have a small story that comes to mind. It will seem completely unrelated, but hang on until the end:
Yesterday, I saw a dinner plate sized turtle attempting to cross a busy parkway near my mother’s home. I swerved not to hit her (my daughter says it was a girl!) and for sweet humanity’s sake, every other car behind me swerved, too. I pulled over and ran into traffic to get the turtle out of the street. But where to put her? After much deliberation, my four-year-old daughter and I decided to drive her thirty-minutes across town to the Botanical Gardens where turtles seemed to live happy, healthy lives. We placed her by the pond and she leaped in like that was exactly where she was supposed to be.
That was writing Angel of Greenwood in 2020. Someone or something somewhere picked me up and carried me through the hell and danger of oncoming traffic, and now, I stand at the edge of the water, tired and ready to jump in.
EC: Religion and faith always such a critical part of your work and I cannot image this particular story without those elements. I’m looking at those names, Angel and Isaiah and I don’t think you chose them without reason. What significance are they bringing here?
RP: Such a wonderful question. The name Angel was chosen because Black girls and women are expected to be just that — angels. Angel, as a character, encompasses that. She is everyone’s everything. Caring, encouraging, intuitively helpful and without complaint. But in my mind, she is always angry, frustrated, and itching to punch something. She’s hiding herself though, behind the longing to not be called angry. As so many of us, Black women and girls, are.
As for Isaiah. One of the most beautiful moments in Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have A Dream speech is where he quotes Isaiah 40:4-
“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” source
The verse makes me think of Greenwood every time I read it. I named Isaiah to honor the beauty of this verse quoted so perfectly on August of 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
EC: What do you enjoy about writing historical fiction?
RP: I want to make history tangible. History is not a thick textbook with quiz keys in the back. No. History is people. History is living, breathing, human beings enduring so that we may live, breathe and be. The unmatched power of historical fiction is sometimes overwhelming. I pray daily that I am worthy of writing it.
EC: You bring the works of DuBois and Washington to life for your readers. What other writers would you recommend to inform young activists?
RP: Harriet Jacobs! In her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, we have a narrative account of a formerly enslaved Black girl, written in the 1800s, and many Americans do not know her name!
She speaks of being born enslaved as a Black girl. She speaks of innocence lost and never allowed. She speaks of crouching herself in a tiny crawl space for years to escape her filthy captor.
The bravery. The power. The resiliency to write and release such a narrative while technically a fugitive enslaved person deserves the respect of being on every high school’s list of required readings. This is why I’m centering my next novel around her.
EC: I see that we’re coming up on the 100 year anniversary of the Greenwood Massacre (31 May 1921). Do you have any plans to observe the day?
RP: I plan to sit in a quiet place for as long as I’m allowed quiet. It’s my way of expressing inexpressible things – quiet.
EC: Thank you, Randi for such a lovely interview!
If you haven’t read Angel of Greenwood, order your copy here: https://bookshop.org/a/25263/9781250768476
Or, request a copy from your local library!
Be well and do good!
OCTOBER 14, 2022 | 12:00 PM
An Interview with Randi Pink, Author of We Are the Scribes
By Team Fierce Reads
An Interview with Randi Pink, Author of We Are the Scribes
In chapters alternating between present and past, Randi Pink explores two characters spiraling into hopelessness and how each finds her voice to make history. We Are the Scribes is such a stunning and impactful novel, but if you need some extra incentive to pick this one up, be sure to check out this interview with the author!
What makes Ruth fierce?
Ruth is quiet. Quiet can be misinterpreted as shy, bashful, or without opinion, but Ruth’s quiet spirit is in waiting. She is wise enough to understand that everyone has their moment. A time in life when the ground in front of them is primed and ready to stand on. Ruth refuses to rush her own moment, and that’s a fierce strength more powerful than the loudest person in the room. Calmness wins in the end because calmness allows space for foresight and observation. Steady, thinking calm is more fierce than boisterous any day.
If you could give Ruth one piece of advice, what would it be?
I’d tell Ruth to stay the course. The race is long and confusing. Continue taking in whatever information you need to equip yourself with the armor to take it all on. And most importantly, treat people well along the way. The race isn’t only long, it’s also cyclical. If you push someone aside as insignificant when the starting gun blasts, be prepared for them to show up at the finish line with an understandably vengeful energy.
What's the most interesting thing you learned while researching We Are the Scribes?
I kept finding things out about Harriet Jacobs as my research turned new corners. She was a crafty woman with survival constantly front of mind. She was determined not only to survive but to thrive after breaking free. She wrote her masterpiece while a demented enslaver was relentlessly searching for her. That masterpiece became a success, and she could easily have retired comfortably. But she went on to invest in the education of formerly enslaved and escaped people by opening a school. The most interesting thing about my research was Harriet Jacobs’ drive to propel herself, her family, and her people forward.
If you'd met Ruth as a teen, would you have been friends with her and why?
I believe so, yes. It would take time to find one another in the noise. Sometimes, quiet people seek out the loudest ones in the room so we can hide behind them. But I think Ruth and I could share quiet -- and even silence -- without feeling uncomfortable in it. I think we would replace audible words with written ones and write together.
What's one fun fact most people don't know about you?
I love plants and dirt. I love digging in the dirt with bare hands just to feel it working underneath the surface. I feel close to a magician when I’m planting dead things in the correct soil and bringing them back to life. It may not sound fun, but it is!
What's your favorite part of being an author?
Stretching my imagination to points that surprise me. It’s all in there, in my mind or heart or soul or wherever words and stories come from. But it’s jumbled up in a maddening ball of confusion until I open a new blank document and begin untangling. It’s difficult but exhilarating. It feels like I’d imagine a spider feels after the hard work of expelling a web. Publication day is catching the bug.
What's the most challenging part of being an author?
There’s always a moment for me when I’m lost in the story, and I want to throw my laptop in the trash. Figuring a way around never seems possible. Looking back, I can’t pinpoint how I came out of that time with any of my books. One foot in front of the other, I guess. Or one word at a time.
What 3 words would you use to describe We Are the Scribes?
Write your story.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Ruth Fitz, is surrounded by activism. Her senator mother frequently appears on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox as a powerful Black voice fighting for legislative social change within the Black community. Her African American history professor father is a walking history book, spouting off random dates and events. And her beloved eldest sister, Virginia, is a natural activist, steadily gaining notoriety within the community and on social media. Ruth, on the other hand, would rather sit quietly in a cushy corner reading or writing in her journal.
When Virginia is killed at a protest, Ruth decides to stop writing and speaking completely. After a few months of near total silence, Ruth begins receiving wax-stamped parchment letters with a seal reading WE ARE THE SCRIBES, sent by Harriet Jacobs, the author of autobiography and American classic, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861).
In chapters alternating between present and past, Randi Pink explores two characters spiraling into hopelessness and how each finds her voice to make history.
Q & A with Randi Pink
By Sanina Clark | Jan 07, 2021
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Randi Pink, author of Girls Like Us, is a writer, mother, and advocate for Black lives. Her latest book, Angel of Greenwood, is a YA historical novel that follows teenagers Angel and Isaiah as they fall in love in their Black neighborhood of Greenwood on the eve of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. We spoke with Pink about Black Excellence, redlining, and about how her newfound motherhood reshaped her activism and writing.
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What inspired you to write a fictional account of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a tragic historical moment? What about it feels timely to you?
I’ll rewind to two years ago. I have a folder on my laptop that’s entitled “Therapy.” If I’m going through something especially troubling, frustrating, or something I feel like I can’t get out of I open a Word document in that folder and just start writing. At the time I was a brand-new mother (probably a little bit post-partum) and frustrated, which is an understatement, but frustrated with the fact that I was still trying to figure out which side of the red line in my town to live on. Now that I had a child—a Black child—I had to decide if I should live in the mostly white neighborhood or mostly non-white neighborhood. Those red lines are still pretty stark in Birmingham. I felt the same way my mother felt 30 years ago. So, I opened the Therapy folder and just started writing about a place for myself and my Black children to live. No hope of publication, no plot—a mom and pop ice cream shop here that was Black-owned, a bank across the street that was Black owned, everywhere you can smell flowers. It was beautiful; it was me dreaming.
I spoke with a librarian a few weeks after I started that and she asked a dreaded question, “What’s next? What are you working on? What’s the next book?” I said, “Well I don’t have a book, but I have this,” and I explained it to her. Then the librarian said, “Well have you heard of Black Wall Street?” I remember the visceral shame in my gut after she explained it. How did I not know about this? I went home, researched a little bit that day and immediately moved [the story] from my Therapy folder to my work-in-progress folder. That was the essence of Angel of Greenwood.
The protagonists are both in high school, and find immense joy in using the mobile library to bring literature to disenfranchised areas of their community. What led you to tell this story through the eyes of teens? What are some ways that children and teens today can take initiative in their communities, even in a pandemic?
I love that you use the word “joy” because when I think of Angel and Isaiah, I think of joy. The mobile library, the building of the relationship, the debate: it’s all just typical teen stuff that kids should do. But they’re doing all of this “teen stuff” on the heels of Reconstruction! Their parents were possibly enslaved themselves or directly descended from enslaved peoples! So just the fact that they’re able to fall in love in peace is a triumph. For their parents to have a slice of time when they could watch their children walk down the street in peace—that’s the joy of the novel for me.
How can teens now take initiative in their communities even in a pandemic? Whether you’re a writer or not, write. Whether you’re a teen or not, write about this moment. Get a journal, open a Therapy folder on your laptop and write about the pandemic. Maybe it’s not going to help right now, but in the future you’ll certainly be happy you did it.
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always been one. I don’t even think I wanted to be one; it’s just like having a beating heart for me. I don’t have a choice. I grew up in a house full of talkers and I was the quiet one in the corner observing and listening. I’d have strong opinions, but I didn’t know how to vocalize them. I felt like they got stuck somewhere between heart and mouth and I couldn’t make it happen. The only way I could do it was to take a pen to paper. I never thought it would be possible to make a career out of it—it felt like a pipe dream. Whenever I expressed that I wanted to do that I would get told, “No, it’s not possible. Get a real job, Randi. Move on.” But whether I had a “real” job or not, I was a writer.
Did that experience influence you at all while characterizing Angel or Isaiah?
I was writing for three months with an infant and a toddler on my shoulder 24/7. I had no escape from these precious babies. I was writing in chaos, so I don’t think I realized just how close I was to Isaiah until a final readthrough a couple of months ago. I cried at one particular scene when Isaiah was walking and performing like a peacock. Isaiah is perfect as he is, but he’s hiding himself and all of the things that make him perfect and is wondering, “What makes me okay? What makes me acceptable?” I cried when I read that because I realized I was writing myself in that. How many times had I wondered, “Is the world going to accept me?”
The ideologies of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington are mentioned frequently throughout the book as Angel and Isaiah’s tools for discussing how to navigate their society. Do you lean toward one writer’s ideals more than the other?
No. I look at them as activate vs. tolerate. I read The Souls of Black Folk and Up from Slavery back-to-back. After hundreds of years of slavery, one philosophy is not enough. I toiled with that because if I’m writing a historical fiction novel set in 1921 in a Black community, I can’t not discuss how Black people are going to move forward on the heels of slavery, because that’s all anybody was thinking about. Is one better than the other? God no, they’re just so different. My heart kind of breaks for Booker T. Washington because of his upbringing, being born enslaved, his mother probably taken by force by a neighboring white man (it was a mystery who his father was), no working door on the shack. His most impressionable years were full of that experience. So, for him to rise up from that in the first place is a triumph, but he was probably terrified! Then there’s W.E.B. DuBois, “Why did God make me an outcast and stranger in mine own house?” It’s like screw this! Fists in the air. No! We’re not doing it this way. We’re going to make them listen to us or we’re going to protest. There’s no wrong answer. The wrong lies with the white people who caused the pain. The right lies with whoever decides to do something.
Do you consider yourself an activist? What does activism mean to you?
If you ask my mama she’ll say, “Yes.” But am I? I don’t think I can avoid that title anymore. So yes. What shifted me into this place was becoming a mama. Once that little Black child took a breath of air I was like, “I can’t shut my mouth no more.” I’m still the child in the corner that’s not going to involve herself vocally in an argument. I don’t know how to do that, but I know how to write a book and essays and I know how to break things that way. My activism is my books.
What crossed your mind this summer when the President initially announced that he would be holding a rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth, a day of celebration honoring Black emancipation? (The date of the rally was later changed.) Did it bring a new sense of urgency to your novel’s publication? Where were you in the process?
I still don’t even know what to say about that. I had trouble processing. I first saw it on the ticker tape of CNN and I was angry. Angel of Greenwood was actually moved up. It was supposed to be published later in 2021, but got moved up to January last minute. So, we were in the thick of copyedits and timeline edits. When I saw that on the ticker tape I was like, “Okay, laptop open. Kids in the pack n’ play.” I was pissed off. It’s kind of good for the sake of Angel of Greenwood that all of those things happened because I write my best when I’m pissed off.
In the back of your novel you list other communities like Greenwood that existed before and after it. Do you think it’s important that Black people have the right to continue to have flourishing communities that embody Black Excellence?
Yes. That’s where the novel came from. Before the world shut down, I used to write in a private room in a beautiful library—the best library in my town by far. The private room has a panoramic view of this quaint neighborhood. The problem with the neighborhood is that it was not built for me. I would not have been allowed there unless I was cleaning somebody’s house. That’s no longer the case, but as a result of how it was built I believe it’s still over 90% white, this neighborhood with the best library. Sometimes I zone out, longingly looking at this place thinking, “We could’ve had this if it was not taken.”
In my research of those towns—which has become a passion project—there were a few, like Tulsa, that were just torched and taken, but the majority were taken by eminent domain, a freeway project, and “urban renewal.” Some of these beautiful Black towns are not even on the historical registry and how dare they not be when they were built by enslaved or formerly enslaved people! They deserve to exist! I don’t know how to fix that, but I sure am not going to stop trying to at least get them on the historical registry somehow. Redlining was still legal in the 1940s. I believe my city is still one of the most redlined cities. The green and red spots according to those 1940s maps are still the same. The green spots have multi-million-dollar homes; the library I love so much is in a green spot. The red spots, where my grandmother was allowed to live, are still struggling. It’s a hard question, but you almost have to open a book on the bylaws of the 40s to understand why things are the way they are and why these things have to be discussed.
What’s next for you?
My hope is to keep writing and be able to make a life doing it. That’s all I can do, [all] I’m good at. As far as works in progress, I have a lot of them, but none that have been announced yet. I have been doing a Thirty Black Towns in Thirty Days thing on my Instagram, @randi_pink. I’ve been releasing two-minute videos highlighting those places every morning. Hopefully, one day, there’ll be another book on that. Fingers crossed.
Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink. Feiwel and Friends, $18.99 Jan. 12 ISBN 978-1-250-76847-6
Interview: Angel of Greenwood author Randi Pink shines light on Tulsa Massacre
by Molly Catherine Turner2 years ago
Randi Pink’s YA historical novel Angel of Greenwood renders a gorgeous and moving love story amidst the tragic backdrop of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Most Americans have likely never heard of Tulsa, Oklahoma, let alone the Tulsa Massacre of 1921. Author Randi Pink’s latest historical young adult novel, Angel of Greenwood, seeks to change that.
For decades, due to the active burial and criminal secrecy of white supremacists and Klan members in Tulsa, no one knew what had happened outside of those who survived and their descendants.
While Tulsa has gained recent attention over the last year, first due to the Tulsa Massacre’s dramatization in the popular and critically acclaimed Watchmen limited series on HBO, and secondly, thanks to hosting President Trump’s first campaign rally during the pandemic on the eve of Juneteenth.
Now, a national spotlight shines on Tulsa, as the local government, for the first time in nearly a century, works to uncover the truth about its past.
All of this historical context underpins the incredible grace and tragedy at the heart of Angel of Greenwood, a historical young adult novel about the Historic Greenwood District in Tulsa in which the Massacre took place.
Angel of Greenwood is primarily a love story in two parts: about a boy and girl, Isaiah and Angel, and about the love between Greenwood and its residents.
First, Isaiah and Angel: Isaiah is your classic “bad boy” while Angel is practically perfect. While he formerly took part in her bullying and teasing as kids, he’s pulled to her unrelenting kindness and goodness. On top of this, their chemistry is palpable and grounded in their dreams for the future.
They disagree politically and see the world through different ideological lenses, but beyond their growing attraction and affection for each other, they the most important thing that binds them together is their love of Greenwood.
Pink portrays Greenwood as an idyllic and magical place rarely seen in historical young adult literature at large, but especially due to the dominant white canon.
Whether or not you are familiar with Tulsa and its history, you’ll be swept away by the lush description of Greenwood’s tree-lined streets, ice cream shops, and close friendships among neighbors.
Even as Isaiah and Angel’s love story advances, all of these elements weave together to take us to the conclusion we know must happen, foreshadowed by headers counting down toward the Massacre.
The climax of the book is utterly devastating, tragic, and heartbreaking. Pink reclaims untold stories from the past, giving names and faces to the lives stolen a century ago in moving and vivid detail, while still managing to engender hope and survival, a message that will certainly hit differently for different readers.
Upon the book’s release, and a few months before the anniversary of the Massacre, Culturess sat down with Pink to discuss her timely and incredibly crafted book. Angel of Greenwood is available January 12, 2021 wherever books are sold.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Culturess: How did you arrive at the structure of Angel of Greenwood, both the alternating points of view and the before and after timeline?
Randi Pink: I rooted the first portion of the novel before the Massacre because I needed to honor the marvel of the Greenwood District. The miraculous fact that Black folks in the early 1900s, some formerly enslaved, built the impossible – a town rivalling in prosperity any other of its time.
A town where Black children walked tree-lined streets to buy homemade ice cream from the Black-owned parlor sandwiched between the Black-owned barber shop and the Black-owned grocery.
A racist mob set out to destroy something so precious, and I couldn’t allow the destroyers to hold onto the megaphone for the entirety of Angel of Greenwood. I needed readers to understand not only the tragedy of attempting to destroy such a miracle, but also the triumph it took to create it in the first place.
The strength of spirit to rise above in the shadows of a hatred so pure–I needed to honor that spirit by allowing folks to revel in the beautiful, brilliant, whole Greenwood for a time.
I needed Greenwood to be more than the Massacre.
As for the points of view, so many households were lost there in the summer of 1921. So many stories never told. I chose to alternate points of view because I wanted the reader to see Greenwood from multiple sets of eyes.
Sending my characters into history, especially a history as intentionally buried as the Greenwood Massacre, I felt that I was giving a small voice to something long ago lost. I needed that voice to speak as thoroughly as possible. For that reason, I chose voices.
Culturess: How much research did you do and how long did it take you?
Pink: When I first heard about the Tulsa Race Massacre, I was so angry that I hadn’t been taught about it in school that I set out to read every book I could find on the topic.
I devoured works by the historian, Hannibal Johnson, including Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District, and also Tim Madigan’s book, The Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.
I searched and read every article and listened to every NPR story and podcast out there. I dove into the Tulsa Historical Society website, which has been meticulously archived and organized.
My research lasted nearly a year before I felt I’d scratched the surface. Actually, I’m still researching since possible mass graves from the Massacre are just now, one-hundred-years later, being investigated and excavated.
Culturess: Isaiah and Angel ascribe to differing political perspectives in the form of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington respectively. Can you talk about the role of politics in the book and how it mirrors or differs from today’s landscape?
Pink: While conceptualizing Angel of Greenwood, I toiled with how to address the post Reconstruction Era debate of Black folks moving forward after hundreds of years of enslavement.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, that was front of mind for Black citizens, and I couldn’t set the novel in that time without discussing the active presence of politics. Then, I read Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B. DuBois, followed directly by Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington and I immediately had my answer.
After reading their works, I realized that W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington were seeking the same destination, but butting heads along the way on how to get there. Angel and Isaiah are reflecting this conflict.
DuBois, like Isaiah, believed in raising his fist in protest, while Washington, like Angel, believed in a slower, steadier path toward eventual change. Neither is wrong. Neither should be dismissed. Both are required to hammer away at something as embedded in the landscape of history as human enslavement.
In the moment, such debates look messy and uncomfortable, but when history looks back on them, they were healthy and necessary. For an institution as multidimensional and complex as slavery, there must be more than one idea on how to move forward.
I tried very hard to get this concept across through Angel and Isaiah — Black folks are not, and never have been, a monolith.
As for how this mirrors our current political landscape, there is nothing new under the sun, is there? Well, maybe Twitter. God help us.
Culturess: Muggy is a fascinating character, a sort of shifting symbol within Greenwood. Without spoiling anything, can you speak about what you were trying to accomplish with his role in the story?
Pink: Many years ago, I was told about the Three Second Test. Here’s how it was explained to me:
“Randi, life is about entrances, and you only have three seconds to make an impression upon someone new, after that, it’s too late. They’ve already sized you up.”
I’ve received thousands of nuggets of advice over the years, but for whatever reason, that one stuck. As I wrote Muggy, I reflected on that. Without giving too much away, we size up Muggy as soon as Isaiah mentions his name.
We believe we know who he is. We silently encourage Isaiah to keep distance from him. We assume that Isaiah, the poet and avid reader and lover of the sweetest girl in town, would be better off without troublemaker Muggy as a best friend.
Every community has a Muggy. A kid with an exterior so thick and seemingly impenetrable that they instill fear into anyone near them. But typically, kids like Muggy are the most sensitive among us. We would never know that though. He would fail miserably our Three Second Tests.
Culturess: In your author’s note, you mentioned you originally came up with the idea for the novel by envisioning your own Wakanda and then discovered the history of Greenwood.
What role does historical fiction, and specifically historical young adult fiction, have in shining a light on history that has been purposefully buried?
Pink: To me, history is a point of passion. I want to know why things are the way they are and I’m willing to dig, dive, and investigate until I figure that out. But even I recall some history courses being unbearably boring.
Historical fiction, however, can be a fantastic jumping off point toward lively discussion. Especially now, when in-person school models are shifting to hybrid or home-based or who knows what’s next, kids need more than assigned chapters to read and memorize.
And what better way to introduce them to the writings of DuBois and Washington and the Greenwood Massacre than to read an immersive story such as Angel of Greenwood?
As for the history of the Massacre, I hope that Angel of Greenwood encourages readers to learn more about what happened there in 1921. The Tulsa Race Massacre has been intentionally omitted from our history books for too long and it will take all of us to bring it back into the light of history.
Culturess: Near the end of the novel, Isaiah says, “It was not our homes or our businesses that the white men were trying to steal away that fateful night. No, it was the knowing they saw building up within our bodies.”
This echoes a similar argument about the violence of white supremacy in Ta-Nahesi Coates’s Between the World and Me: “You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body.”
This May will tragically mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. What truth do you most hope (white) readers will recognize about racism that has been ignored over the last century?
Pink: The social acrobatics that Black people go through on a daily basis is an unexplainable thing. I will try my best, but I will fall short:
I love to walk. I walk so much that I walk holes in my shoes. I walk to work out impossible questions and ideas. I’ve actually walked contemplating this very thing–my hope for white readers–and I struggle with a succinct answer.
Maybe, as an entry point, I can share a complex example of something that happens on those walks.
Two people pushing strollers on a skinny sidewalk can create a strange game of social chicken. We spot each other from a distance, size up the width of the walkway, and the closer we get, the more awkward this interaction becomes.
For me, pushing the stroller towards a white mother though, a conflict happens on the inside. In the past, the expectation would have been for me to step aside and allow the other mother to pass. Bow my head, tip my hat and call her ma’am.
Flash forward to today. If I pull my stroller to the grass first, which I usually do, I wonder if I’ve done this as a result of some deep-seated, long held social expectation or am I simply being courteous? How are my son and daughter viewing this? How is the other mother viewing this?
I hesitate to share such a thing because I can imagine eyes rolling upon reading it, but these tiny, seemingly forgettable interactions happen hundreds of times per day in the lives of Black people.
The past lingers whether we accept that or not.
That’s one hope I have for white readers–to understand that our past has shaped us in ways that cannot be adequately articulated.
PINK, Randi. Girls Like Us. 320p. Feiwel & Friends. Oct. 2019. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781250155856.
Gr 9 Up--In 1972, four teenage girls find themselves pregnant. Upon the discovery of their condition, Missippi and Sue, one African American and the other Caucasian, are sent to Chicago to live in an apartment until the birth of their babies with other pregnant teens, under the care of Miss Pearlanne. Meanwhile, Ola is hiding her pregnancy from her mother, who doesn't think highly of neighbor Missippi's condition, and relies on her younger sister Izella to cover for her. While their pregnancies were all unplanned, one was a result of love, one of rape, and another of "that one time." Ranging in ages from 14 (Missippi) to 17 (Sue), the teens forge a bond that refuses to be broken, even after their time at Pearlanne's. Pink's exquisite novel explores the period of time when women were on the cusp of being able to choose. A time when women were ? sent away out of shame and family disgrace or kept in the backwoods and left to their own devices. With gut-wrenching, realistic scenes that illustrate their youth and innocence to scenes that show their forced growth into motherhood, readers' hearts will break for these teens who don't know what to expect when their life throws them the unexpected. VERDICT An excellent fictionalized look at the reality of teen pregnancy with a historical lens. A must for all teen collections.--Enn Holt, Williamson County Public Library, Franklin, TN
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Holt, Enn. "PINK, Randi. Girls Like Us." School Library Journal, vol. 65, no. 8, Sept. 2019, p. 130. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A597859078/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=03d81b9e. Accessed 20 May 2023.
Pink, Randi GIRLS LIKE US Feiwel & Friends (Young Adult Fiction) $18.99 10, 29 ISBN: 978-1-250-15585-6
Four girls navigate the impact of pregnancies on their futures in 1972.
Ola, 16, and Izella, 15, are sisters living in rural Georgia with their devoutly religious mother, Evangelist. After visiting their seer neighbor, Ola discovers she's pregnant by her long-term boyfriend, a Vietnam War veteran suffering from PTSD, and she looks to Izella for support. Needing to be seen as mature, Izella feels obligated to take on the burden of Ola's situation and find a way to get rid of the baby. Evangelist looks after 14-year-old Missippi, who longs for a mama to guide her and someone to talk to while her father is away working. Now pregnant by her sexually abusive uncle, she leaves for Chicago to live with Ms. Pearline and other girls like her. While there, she meets Sue, 17, a white politician's daughter who is determined to rage against the silencing of women. As the nonlinear timeline goes on, each girl begins to understand the gravity of her situation, culminating in unbreakable bonds between them. Pink (Into White, 2016) weaves a heart-wrenching narrative through multiple perspectives that examines life before Roe v. Wade. The author brings to light the reality about the lack of choices that women, especially young, unwed women, had in regard to their futures. Ola, Izella, and Missippi are black.
A timely, honest story about women's right to choose. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 13-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Pink, Randi: GIRLS LIKE US." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A596269815/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=41b13961. Accessed 20 May 2023.
Angel of Greenwood.
By Randi Pink.
Jan. 2021. 304p. Feiwel and Friends, $18.99 (97812507684761. Gr. 7-10.
The year 1921 finds 17-year-old Isaiah living in the idyllic and prosperous district of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, an area that Booker T. Washington dubbed the Black Wall Street. It's a close-knit African American community where everyone knows everyone else. That means Isaiah knows beautiful, seraphic Angel. Following the lead of his obnoxious friend Muggy, Isaiah has made Angel's life miserable for years. That all changes when Isaiah sees her dance and falls instantly in love. But romance is only part of this story, which takes a much darker turn as it tells of the invasion of Greenwood by a rabid white mob that burns the city to the ground. While Isaiah and Angel are imagined, the invasion is based on real history that must be remembered. The book is something of a mixed bag, however; its subject is inarguably important, but it requires fresher diction and more subtle characterization. Nevertheless, it deserves praise for its vivid treatment of the invasion and, importantly, for how it invites empathy.--Michael Cart
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 American Library Association
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Cart, Michael. "Angel of Greenwood." Booklist, vol. 117, no. 9-10, 1 Jan. 2021, p. 67. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A650393107/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=19367e4f. Accessed 20 May 2023.
Randi Pink. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, $18.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-76847-6
This harrowing fictional account of Black community action centers the eve of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Angel Hill, 16, is a quiet churchgoing dancer with a passion for helping others and a love for Booker T Washington. Beneath his mischievous exterior, 17-year-old Isaiah Wilson is a poet who admires W.E.B. Du Bois. Angel is beloved by all of Greenwood, a town of Black excellence across the Frisco tracks from white Tulsa, Okla., while Isaiah is known for hanging out with the wrong crowd. Paired rogether for a summer job manning a mobile library, rhe rwo immediarely begin debating the philosophies of "tolerant" Washington and more "active" Du Bois. They also instantly fall in love: Isaiah with Angel's dance and compassion, she with his poetry and exuberance, and both with the other's undying devotion to Greenwood, America's Black Wall Street. Life is disrupted, though, when white Tulsans invade Greenwood and set the town ablaze. Rich in its discussion of Black literature, this novel brilliantly juxtaposes a lighthearted story of young Black love with a deft reminder that such beauty has often been violently seized from Black people, and that these instances deserve remembrance. Ages 12-up.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 PWxyz, LLC
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"Angel of Greenwood." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 48, 24 Nov. 2021, pp. 96+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A686559749/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=dd56dd2b. Accessed 20 May 2023.
We Are the Scribes
Randi Pink. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, $18.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-82031-0
A Black 16-year-old is spurred to action amid present-day political unrest when she's visited by the ghost of an enslaved woman from the 1900s in this affecting novel from Pink (Angel of Greenwood). Reserved Ruth Fitz would rather write quietly in her journal than be in the spotlight, but attention is difficult to avoid when the rest of her family are prominent social rights activists; her mother is an Alabama senator, her father is an African American Hisrory professor, and her older sister Virginia is outspoken on social media. But Ruth's life is thrown into disarray when Virginia dies during a protest, and mysterious parchment scrolls with the seal "We Are the Scribes," sent by Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl author Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897), start arriving addressed to Ruth. Harriet's letters provide comfort and courage as Ruth finds her voice, unites her grief-stricken family, honors her sister's memory, and champions a better future for Black lives in America. Pink mindfully ruminates on the healing and lifesaving power of words, expertly highlighting Harriet's experiences, as told in her autobiography, to reflect on Ruth's tumultuous present. Ages 13-up. Agent: Marietta Zacker, Gallt and Zacker Literary. (Oct.)
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"We Are the Scribes." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 37, 5 Sept. 2022, p. 105. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A748542497/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=40f412e6. Accessed 20 May 2023.
PINK, Randi. We Are the Scribes. 304p. Feiwel & Friends. Oct. 2022. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781250820310.
Gr 9 Up--Ruth is a writer. She writes about everything she sees or does or feels as a Black girl, a daughter, a sister. All this changes after her sister's murder during a demonstration and her politician mother's nomination as vice president, which keeps her away from home for long periods. Ruth can no longer write and feels lost and alone. In the midst of her grief, she receives a scroll with a letter from someone named Harriett who tells Ruth about life as an enslaved woman and as a scribe. Through these letters, Ruth begins to overcome her sadness and finds strength she didn't know she had. This beautifully written book touches on so many issues, both political and familial, as Ruth struggles to find her place in unfamiliar situations. Pink has once again created a relatable character who overcomes obstacles not of her own making. The characters are well-developed and realistic. The situations related to Ruth's mother's role in the campaign, her father's reaction to the nomination, and the underlying grief all show resiliency. Harriet writes to Ruth in a cursive font that is difficult to read and which many readers have not been taught. This could be detrimental to the book being enjoyed. VERDICT If YA patrons can read cursive writing, this book is highly recommended for all collections.--Janet Hilbun
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Hilbun, Janet. "PINK, Randi. We Are the Scribes." School Library Journal, vol. 68, no. 12, Dec. 2022, pp. 93+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A729548067/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=008e07bb. Accessed 20 May 2023.