Peace Locomotion
Lonnie and his sister Lili are in foster care after the death of their parents. They live with separate families and this book is Lonnie’s letters to Lili that he writes to stay connected to her and as he says “to be the rememberer” while they are living separately.
Where it takes place:
In Brooklyn.
Where I wrote it:
In Brooklyn and also parts were written on planes as I traveled.
Why I wrote it:
I wanted Lonnie and Lili to find peace – within themselves and in the bigger world. The book started out being about one kind of peace and then became about the many ways we search for and eventually all kinds of peace.
Feathers
“Feathers” takes place in the 1970s and begins when a boy walks into the classroom who is very different from the other kids there. Or maybe he isn’t so different…
Where it takes place:
I never name the place but was imagining this point between the Brooklyn and Queens border — right near Kennedy Airport.
Where I wrote it:
Here in Brooklyn and over the year while I was on the road.
Why I wrote it:
“Feathers” is a book I wrote because I wanted to write about the many ways people find Hope in the world.
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Locomotion
Lonnie C. Motion has had some tough breaks in his life. But this fall, Lonnie’s fifth grade class is learning to write poetry and suddenly, Lonnie is finding the words to tell the world about his family, the fire that took his parents away, his little sister, his world.
Where it takes place:
In the Bedford Stuyvesant and Park Slope sections of Brooklyn, NY
Where I wrote it:
In Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Why I wrote it:
Lonnie’s voice was in my head. The poems started coming and the rest…the rest is this book, I guess.
Last Summer With Maizon
Margaret and Maizon are best friends. When Margaret’s father dies and Maizon gets accepted to a boarding school in Connecticut, Margaret wonders if life on Madison Street will ever be the same again.
Where it takes place:
In the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York
Where I wrote it:
In the apartment I grew up in on Madison Street in Brooklyn, New York and in Garden City, Long Island.
Why I wrote it:
Growing up, there were very few books about black girls and even fewer about people like the people I knew in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. I wanted to write about the people I loved and the neighborhood that had been my home for many years. Last Summer With Maizon was my first novel.
Maizon At Blue Hill
Maizon Singh is one of the few black girls at an all-white boarding school. She doesn’t feel like she belongs there and misses Madison Street and the family and friends she left behind.
Japanese language version of “Maizon at Blue Hill”
Where it takes place:
In Connecticut in the fictionalized town of Canturbury
Where I wrote it:
In the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn, New York and in San Francisco, California
Why I wrote it:
I wanted to write Maizon’s side of the story and about what happens when she went away to boarding school. It was the first book I wrote that really dealt with racism.
Between Madison And Palmetto
When Maizon returns to Brooklyn from Blue Hill, the boarding school she’s been attending, she’s not sure if she and Margaret will still be best friends.
Where it takes place:
In the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York
Where I wrote it:
In Bushwick and in Provincetown, Massachusetts
Why I wrote it:
A lot of readers wrote and asked what happened after Maizon got home from boarding school. I decided I’d write a trilogy.