Salvation of Miss Lucretia Page 15
Poudlum was in the middle and I had the window seat as we cruised down Highway 84 toward Coffeeville and Center Point.
I hung my head out the window and looked back to check on the dogs. They liked to ride, and Old Bill had his head over the side with the wind blowing full in his face. His ears were flapping in the stiff breeze and his lips were blown back so that it looked like he was actually grinning.
I looked over toward Poudlum and he was grinning. I supposed it was because Sister Gal had promised to come see him.
Past him, Uncle Curvin had a toothless grin on his face. I supposed it was because he was heading toward home and his peanut field.
I felt myself breaking out into a grin, and I supposed it was because all my friends were grinning, and that probably everybody in Alabama was grinning, except maybe Cudjoe and Mister Kim.
About the Author
Ted M. Dunagan was born and grew up in rural southwestern Alabama. He served in the U.S. Army, attended Georgia State University, and retired from a career in business in 2003. He received the 2009 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Young Adult Fiction for his debut novel, A Yellow Watermelon. The book was also named to the inaugural “25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read” list compiled by the Georgia Center for the Book. He followed his first success with two Ted and Poudlum sequels, Secret of the Satilfa and Trouble on the Tombigbee, which earned the 2011 and 2012 Georgia Author of the Year awards, respectively. That made him the only author in Georgia history to win that award for every book he’s ever written—and sets the bar high for this current one. Tombigbee also won the Frank Yerby Award for Fiction. Dunagan lives in Monticello, Georgia, where he writes news, features, and a weekly column for the Monticello News.
To learn more about Ted M. Dunagan and The Salvation of Miss Lucretia, visit www.newsouthbooks.com/lucretia.
A Yellow Watermelon
A Yellow Watermelon—Ted M. Dunagan’s debut novel, named to the Georgia Center for the Book’s inaugural list of “25 Books Young Georgians Should Read.”
In A Yellow Watermelon, readers meet Ted Dillon, a young white boy, who becomes friends with Poudlum, a black boy his own age, despite the racial divides of 1948 Alabama. Through Poudlum and Jake, an escaped black convict, Ted learns of evil forces gathering to steal Poudlum’s family’s home. The boys face danger as they execute a plan to save Poudlum’s family, set Jake onto a river of freedom, and discover a great, yet simple, secret of enlightenment.
Available in paperback and ebook
ISBN 978-1-58838-301-3
240 pages, $17.95
www.newsouthbooks.com/watermelon
Secret of the Satilfa
What is the secret of the Satilfa? Ted and Poudlum think bank robbers have hidden their loot on the banks of the Satilfa Creek—and the boys have a clue no one else possesses.
In Secret of the Satilfa, Ted M. Dunagan’s sequel to A Yellow Watermelon. fugitive bank robbers interrupt Ted and Poudlum’s post-Thanksgiving fishing trip. The boys must first escape, and then the hunt is on for the missing treasure.
“Ted Dunagan convincingly captures the South of the late 1940s. In his moving story he shows through the experience of a young boy how friendship can triumph over prejudice. Good reading!” — Faye Gibbons, Halley
Available in hardcover and ebook
ISBN 978-1-58838-249-8
208 pages, $21.95
www.newsouthbooks.com/satilfa
Trouble on the Tombigbee
In Ted M. Dunagan’s third young adult novel, boyhood friends Ted and Poudlum, a white boy and a black boy who live in the rural segregated South of the 1940s, find their fishing trip interrupted by a Ku Klux Klan meeting and accidentally learn the identity of key Klansmen. Discovered, they escape down the river but only to swim into the arms of more trouble. Can the quick-thinking boys find their way out of this one?
“Rooted in a steadfast friendship that defies the stereotypes of the 1940s Deep South, this story tackles tough historical truths and offers readers an old-fashioned adventure that quickens the heart.” — Irene Latham, Leaving Gee’s Bend
Available in hardcover and ebook
ISBN 978-1-58838-270-2
208 pages, $21.95
www.newsouthbooks.com/tombigbee