Pappy's Handkerchief (Tales of Young Americans) [Hardcover]

Devin Scillian (Author), Chris Ellison (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 2007 | Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: Tales of Young Americans

Young Moses and his family are barely scraping by. He helps his father in their fish stall selling each day’s catch to passersby but times are hard in 1889 Baltimore. It’s difficult to provide for a family of ten. But when they hear of free farmland out in Oklahoma, it sounds like the answer to their prayers. The family sells all they own and heads west to fulfill a lifelong dream.

Their wagon journey, however, is plagued with troubles from ice storms and flooded rivers to diminishing supplies and sickness. Yet Moses and his family persevere. They arrive in time to take a place along the boundary line that marks the staging point for the Oklahoma Land Run. But after making it this far, will even more bad luck prevent them from realizing their dream of owning their own piece of America?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

An Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist currently based at the NBC affiliate in Detroit, Devin Scillian has been writing professionally since 1984. His first children's title, Fibblestax, published in 2000, was called "original, entertaining," by Midwest Book Review. His second book, A is for America: An American Alphabet, released in May 2001, has sold more than 250,000 copies.

Chris Ellison, after receiving his formal art training at the Harris School of Art in Franklin, Tennessee, and then later at the Portfolio Center in Atlanta, Georgia, has illustrated both children's and adult historical fiction for the past 14 years. His first children's book, King of the Stable, was awarded the Gold Medallion from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association in 1999. Let Them Play is his first picture book with Sleeping Bear Press. Though a native of Louisiana, Chris currently resides in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, along with wife Lesley and young son Henry.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press; First Edition edition (August 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585363162
• ISBN-13: 978-1585363162
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

When I wrote my first children's story in high school, I don't think I could quite see the day when I would actually become a published author. (I certainly didn't envision myself being invited to read at the White House.) But I do know that from the very first story (which was called, "The Journey to the City" by the way) I was completely taken by the joyous freedom that comes with writing for young readers (even though I was a seriously young WRITER at the time).
It took another ten years or so before I started seriously working at getting published, and another ten years after that before I actually received that magical acceptance from an editor. It was like crossing a far away finish line. And I think that just after "Fibblestax" was published, I thought that I could check that box (the "published author" box) and move on to something else. I don't know that I could see another dozen or so books pouring from me. I mean, I had a "regular" job as anchor of the news at the NBC affiliate in Detroit; it was often more than a fulltime gig. But in children's books, I quickly found a calling.
Shortly after "Fibblestax" was published, my editor called me and told me to think about a book called "A is for America." She didn't say to write it; she just said to think about it.
I couldn't think of anything else.
Having grown up in a military family all over the country and all over the world, and having watched my father head off for three tours of duty in Vietnam, I had a lot of thoughts about America. And in just a few days, I had completed the book. It was odd --- ten years to get "Fibblestax" published, less than a week to get "A is for America" on its way. But as "America" became a national bestseller and I began hearing from teachers all over the country using the book in their classrooms, I developed a new understanding of the power of a picture book. (I'll never forget the morning one of my daughters started yelling for us all to come to the television because the "Today" show had just shown my book sitting beneath the White House Christmas tree.)
Years and many books later, I love to look at the characters who've walked the road with me --- Fibblestax, Cosmo and his moon, Brewster the Rooster, Moses (who led his family to an Oklahoma homestead in "Pappy's Handkerchief") and the others. They've become a part of our family. And I can't wait to meet those who line the road ahead.