SLCL and the Novel Neighbor Present Award-Winning Middle Grade Author Amina Luqman- Dawson
The St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Reading Garden Series for Young Audiences and the Novel Neighbor are pleased to host award-winning middle grade author Amina Luqman-Dawson for a discussion of her historical novel “Freewater.”
The event will take place on Tuesday, September 12 at 6:30p.m. at the Florissant Valley Branch, 195 New Florissant Rd. South, Florissant, MO 63031. The program is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the event from The Novel Neighbor.
Amina Luqman-Dawson will be in conversation with Julius B. Anthony, President of St. Louis Black Authors of Children’s Literature.
Award-winning author Amina Luqman-Dawson pens a lyrical, accessible historical middle-grade novel about two enslaved children’s escape from a plantation and the many ways they find freedom.
Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there’s no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find a secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp. In this society created by formerly enslaved people and some freeborn children, Homer finds new friends, almost forgetting where he came from. But when he learns of a threat that could destroy Freewater, he crafts a plan to find his mother and help his new home. Deeply inspiring and loosely based on the history of Maroon communities in the South, this is a striking tale of survival, adventure, friendship, and courage.
Amina Luqman-Dawson is the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning and bestselling author of Freewater and the pictorial history book “Images of America: African Americans of Petersburg.”
Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.